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- Why I Don't Want Work-Life Balance
Hello 3,484 friends, it’s Zac here!
First of all, I appreciate all the messages wishing me well over the last few weeks. It means a lot to feel connected to this community, and I am pleased to say that I’m feeling much better now!
For those of you that are returning readers, you may have noticed the number that we are saying “Hello” to this week has grown MASSIVELY! Welcome to the 1,000+ new subscribers! To help us keep up with the new $1,000 per year running costs of sending this newsletter, this issue is sponsored by…
Ourselves! Just a few purchases of our e-book The Wise Guide to Journaling each month will help us to continue to deliver these nuggets of wisdom every Saturday. And a huge thank you to the 110+ people that have bought a copy so far!
If you’d like to support us in our mission to encourage more people to get wiser, consider buying The Wise Guide to Journaling here:
Thank you for checking out this issue of the WISER Newsletter. Let’s get WISER together!
🎶 Work-life Harmony
Forget work-life balance. Embrace work-life harmony.
Michael did a post about this a few months back, he got inspired to make this visual from a comment by one of our lovely community members on LinkedIn.
The idea here is that we can often get caught up in work and personal life being a balancing act; finding a good middle ground for both aspects of our lives.
However, this could take us to the conclusion that we are compromising on both to find a middle ground we just accept.
Neither side truly flourishes. Both sides suffer.
Balance requires us to fit everything into neat lists, boxes or checkpoints that we can reach and achieve in order to weigh up the final result of the day, and say: “Yes, that was a balanced day.”
So taking from Michael, I am inviting us all to look at them as part of a melody, a harmony, a song.
By treating them as part of the same music piece, one is able to compliment the other. Each flows into the next, moving with the demands of life and creating a new rhythm to live by.
This mindset allows flexibility, unease and forgiveness.
It means that when you have that big project at work, that’s okay! Complete it to your best ability, throw yourself in and commit if necessary, because we know that coming up in the music of life is a time where the tune of personal life sings louder.
And as with music, don’t forget to rest! The pauses are where the magic happens.
🎼 What Song Are You Playing?
Pressing into this metaphor more, how can we implement this poetic view of life? First we need to establish what song we’re playing, right?
What genre is it? Rock? Jazz? Is it a high-tempo, upbeat song? Or are you aspiring to compose a calmer piece?
Essentially, what life do you aspire to have?
Is work the most important thing? Maybe it’s family? How about friends? Faith? Hobbies? It could be something else we haven’t mentioned, or even some kind of musical mash-up of all of them!
We could spend a whole newsletter speaking about where one’s priorities might ought to lie, but today is not that issue!
Ultimately this is a decision for yourself, but treat this as an encouragement to reflect on what you consider to be the important parts of life.
🎻 Choosing Your Orchestra
Now that we’ve established what musical masterpiece you want to make, we need to understand who will be playing the instruments! I like to call this “Choosing Your Orchestra.”
We can’t create harmony if we don’t know who is playing in the orchestra. First we need to look at our lives.
It’s all about building relationships with people that compliment the piece that you’re trying to create. After all, Jim Rohn once said:
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
- Jim Rohn
Here’s a few quick tips in building these relationships with the musicians in your orchestra:
Set Clear Priorities - If we have various goals in multiple aspects of life, it can help to weigh up what’s most important. This allows you to remain focused on who supports those aspirations, and not get stuck in the wrong crowd.
Be Present - Another point that I referenced in my last newsletter issue Without Words is about being present. In this context, now that we have set priorities and understand all the important aspects to us, we can give our all and be fully present in everything we do, guilt free that we might be missing out on the next thing.
Accept your Limits - Understand that with all the will in the world, we cannot do everything. This part is an encouragement to talk to the team, speak with your family, ask whoever can help, then adjust your schedule to get the balance back, or even drop things altogether.
This list is not exhaustive, and I’m not calling for everyone to drop what they are doing and change their life completely.
You may love the life you have and see no need for change. That’s perfect! This is possibly just a new lens to view life if you are struggling to get things to line up.
❓ Are there points above that you think would improve your life?
Would you rather have work-life balance or work-life harmony?
What changes could you implement this week to have a better work-life harmony?
What area of your life is playing the leading part in your song at the moment?
How do you feel about those that are in your orchestra?
✍️ Consider journalling through the above questions yourself.
Recommendations
Y’all know that we love to share a few recommendations that compliment the topic of the week. This week it’s 2 books:
1️⃣ First up is Bronnie Ware’s The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying.
There are a handful of books that I (Michael) that I recommend more than others. This is one of them.
Bronnie shares what she learned were the top 5 regrets of those that she was supporting in their final seasons of life whilst she was a palliative care nurse.
It’s a great book to listen to, and if you’re wrestling with what your priorities in life are, this might help you find some direction.
Consider buying a physical copy or listening to it on audiobook here:
2️⃣ Next is Grace Beverley’s book Working Hard, Hardly Working.
We all know the pressure of feeling like we should be grinding 24/7 while simultaneously being told that we should 'just relax' and take care of ourselves, like we somehow have to decide between success and sanity.
This book looks at how to have a healthier approach when it comes to working despite these societal expectations.
Been feeling overwhelmed recently? Consider purchasing Grace’s book here:
* Please note that these may be affiliation links. Purchasing through these links could support Wisdom Made Easy encourage more people to get wiser.
✍️ What We’re Working On
We’ve said this a lot over the last few weeks: we’re working on a lot, but we’re not quite ready to announce anything just yet.
Don’t worry! As subscribers to this newsletter, you’ll be the first to know when we launch something exciting to help us all get wiser!
In the mean time, we’ll merely tease a few ideas we’re working on delivering:
A video podcast (subscribe here to get a head start)
A few free digital resources
Our first physical product
More high-quality issues of this newsletter!
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😊 Thank You!
Thanks for checking out this issue of the WISER Newsletter. If you have any feedback, we would love to hear it!
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Catch you in the next issue!
Thanks,
Michael and Zac!
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