You don't have to balance anymore.

Having trouble work-life balancing? Here are my tips for a much more enjoyable approach.

(Learned first-hand from 17+ years working from home, including 13 running my own business with newborns, toddlers, homeschooling, medical emergencies, military spouse time away, lots of life surprises…and PLENTY of doing it the wrong way.)

Tired of the quest for work-life balance? I have a 1-word answer for you:

Don't.

Balancing requires opposing forces to compete against each other.

This NEVER ends well!

Best-case scenario, you’re breaking even. (…?) Not a fun or sustainable way to work/live/grow.

An approach that works much better for me is what I call work+life composition. Like a piece of music, our lives can (and should!) have lots of moving parts, a variety of different instruments/sounds, and a range of dynamics and tempos that change throughout the piece.

This is a great thing! But definitely not balanced in the sense that everything is equally distributed all the time.

I hope at this point you're able to sit back and take a deep breath, welcoming in this new idea of letting life flow and embracing all of the parts... even the unexpected moments of dissonance.

Here are some action items to help you release the unhelpful idea of balance and clear the manuscript paper so you can start a new "masterpiece" for your life.

1. OWN THE PENCIL AND BATON
   You are the composer and the director. This means it is your masterpiece. It doesn't matter what anyone else's sounds like; by nature, yours is going to be different. You can add as many (or as few!) moving parts as you want. You're the composer.
2. CHOOSE A KEY
   Mine = I am a daughter of God. This allows me to parter with Him, and also serves as a great form of structure for what I add or take away from my composition.
3. EMBRACE DISSONANCE
   Recognize the idea that dissonance isn't bad; included tastefully, it can even add some gorgeous dimension to your composition. Just work to be sure there's a resolution-- otherwise it'll start reminding you of the Psycho theme song (which is not ideal).
4. DELETE.
   Take a look at your life, and de-clutter as much as you possibly can. Most of us are carrying around SO much extra fluff that takes up bandwidth and drains our energy. Just make like Elsa and #letitgo.
5. USE ROBOTS.
   Be honest about the things that would/could be done better with the right tools + tech. You can free up a lot of time and bandwidth by employing the right “team” of robots.
6. HOLD AUDITIONS.
   Are there people and projects that want to be part of your composition? Be picky. Only say “yes” to projects and activities that fuel you.
7. MAKE YOUR CALENDAR YOUR BEST FRIEND.
   Book time for the things that matter (see #3). Schedule your work, family, personal care, and hobbies. You’re going to feel silly doing it, but I promise that it works.