THE MYTH OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE: 6 ways to make it all work

Powerade released a commercial focusing on the ‘power of pause’. The theme of the commercial is urging consumers to take the necessary time to pause in the frantic pursuit of goals. I understand the sentiment behind this marketing effort. Many of us feel the exhaustion that accompanies the chaotic pace of, well, everything. And we often do not give ourselves permission to pause until it’s too late. 

BUT…

There is also the reality of excellence. Excellence will require gut-wrenching effort across long hours. There is an undeniable correlation. My own personal examples would be that any award, degree, honor, or certification that I have received has come to the conclusion of levels of effort that were uncomfortable and at times exhausting. I am concerned that in our culture’s efforts to help people navigate the realities of burnout, the pendulum has swung too far and we may lose hold of what is required to produce excellence. The idea that there is work-life balance is a myth. 

BUT…

I have a potential solution I would like to offer. You see, when you are chasing excellence there is no work-life balance. You can’t just do only what is expected and produce excellence. My father would often say excellence is the habit of doing just a little bit more than what is expected. However, resting, recovering, and pausing are important. We do not have an endless supply of energy though we sometimes try to live like it. 

BUT…

There are busy seasons and slow seasons. Exhaustion happens when we confuse the two. The Bible claims that Solomon was the wisest man to ever live. Some of that wisdom is captured in the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes where Solomon tells us there is a time and season for everything. 

You can bust the myth of work-life balance. Here are some ways to manage busy seasons, and slow seasons, maintain your energy to pursue excellence, and recover it. 

BUSY SEASONS (the break-neck pursuit of excellence)

1. Prepare your people for it. Some busy seasons are handed to us and others we pursue. The last month of the school year for a school administrator, a summer youth camp for a student pastor, or tax season for an accountant are busy seasons that are forced upon an individual. You know they are coming. Embrace it and chase hard after excellence. Busy seasons that we pursue are working on an online degree, pursuing a side hustle to make some extra cash, or volunteering to be part of the summer youth camp (God bless volunteers!). Prepare your people for these seasons. Let your spouse, kids, and co-workers know they are coming well in advance. Explain to them why these busy seasons are important. Speak about them with enthusiasm. Give the important people in your life the opportunity to speak about how everyone will get through what will be a challenging season. And attack that busy season with determination! 

2. Remind them why you're sprinting so hard. I had a colleague who used to refer to the busy seasons as sprints, and that’s exactly what it felt like on the campus. Everything that was being worked on felt like it had to be done well, and done yesterday. The sprinting seasons are hard. Sometimes they are so hard that your people will begin to think that something is wrong. It is important in these sprints to remind people why you are all sprinting so hard. If you prepared your people for this busy season, then you should be able to console them and encourage them by reminding them why you are sprinting so hard. Because excellence requires it! 

3. Mark the finish line. Dave Brandt, the mastermind behind Messiah College soccer’s 11 NCAA national championships in 20 seasons, says that the only thing worse than running is running with no finish line. Someone slightly tougher than Coach Brandt, my grandmother Louisa, used to say that you can put up with anything as long as you know how long you to put up with it. Mark the finish line of your busy season for yourself and your people. You can sprint really hard towards excellence without it burning you out if you mark the finish line. 

SLOW SEASONS (the slow, quiet, times of recovery)

1. Prepare your people for it. This is the exact same suggestion as the suggestion on the busy season but it is so much harder to apply. Highly trained strength coaches will tell you that extreme athleticism is not displayed in how fast an athlete can run but in how fast they can slow down. Deceleration. Once you get into the speed of a busy season, it becomes rhythmic, even addicting. Slowing down is difficult but it makes the difference. You must slow down well if you are to manage the pursuit of excellence without burning out. Prepare your people for it with a calendar. Mark the days, weeks, and months when the only things that will be done are what is required. Notify them when it is time to put things down and slow down. Make sure they know when it is and what you will and won’t do during the slow season. Decelerate. 

2. Remind them why things must be slow. If you get good at sprinting, you will produce excellence, and people will want to join you. And you will likely all get a rush out of the sprinting and you will all struggle to slow down. Remind your people that to sprint well, you must rest even better. Strength coaches will also often tell you that it is not the sprint that makes you fast, it is the recovery that makes you fast. Sprinting (both physically and theoretically) is an explosive process. Explosive implies destructive. It is the recovery that allows you to process, rebuild, strengthen, adapt, and return to even better sprinting (both physically and theoretically). Remind your people that things must be slow at times so that you can all sprint better together. 

3. Mark the finish line. I’m going to get a little ‘preachy’ here. I believe we were all created by God and created to be producers. The Bible teaches us that. Check out Matthew 5:16 or Ephesians 2:10 if you want to fact-check me. We were not put on this earth to consume. But, we are also physical creatures with physical limits. This is why slow seasons are necessary, but they cannot become permanent. We must get back to producing excellence so we must mark the finish line of our slow seasons. 

Let your people know that an exciting new sprint is coming, let them know when it is coming, and encourage them to rest well because when you all get back together you will be going fast! 

Keep on, keepin’ on, friends! 

*Bonus content: Here are some resources if you would like to dive deeper into this topic: Master of One by Jordan Raynor, The Messiah Method by Michael Ziggarelli, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer

‘Bite Down and Don’t Let Go’ is a collection of writings on being intentional about life in a way that produces excellent persistence. Read about it more here.

Dr. Chris Hobbs is an educational leader with more than two decades of experience. He’s earned a few degrees and won some awards. He’s happily married to his high school sweetheart and they have three teenage children. Life is messy and complicated most of the time. You can follow him on Twitter for all sorts of inspirational thoughts and good laughs.