We all seem to think that “balance” is the ideal.\u00a0 Work-life balance.\u00a0 Balanced diet.\u00a0 Even balanced spirituality.<\/p>\n
It’s a never-ending struggle.<\/p>\n
Let’s consider an alternative concept.\u00a0 Balance implies being static, but in fact life and the world are dynamic.\u00a0 Maybe it’s about movement and flow, rather than trying to get the rest of your world to stop changing.<\/p>\n
You thought you had the day under control:\u00a0 You’re fairly prepared for the meetings, and it looks like you’ll be happy with the rest of the work you’ll be able to do.\u00a0 And you’re feeling productive.<\/p>\n
Then your kid calls from school.\u00a0 She’s sick.<\/p>\n
In a paradigm of “balance,” this is terrible.\u00a0 There’s no way you’re going to get your work done, to attend those important meetings, and you’re worried that the rest of the week will be a disaster as you try to recover.<\/p>\n
In a paradigm that embraces dynamic movement, it’s a different story.\u00a0 Be grateful that you were able to receive the call, that you have a car to go pick up your daughter, that you have a cell phone which gives you flexibility, and that you have a job where you won’t get fired for this happening.<\/p>\n
Go take care of her.\u00a0 She’s the most important thing in your world right now, isn’t she?<\/p>\n
Yes, it changed your plans.\u00a0 But realize that your plans would have probably changed anyway.\u00a0 All it takes is one email, one late meeting, or finding out that your work didn’t go as expected.<\/p>\n
In a dynamic world, it’s all good.\u00a0 Focus on what’s important right now, and pay attention to your longer term goals.\u00a0 But go with the flow, do the best you can, and don’t obsess about changes.<\/p>\n
I heard someone last week use the phrase, “embrace the suck.”\u00a0 Apparently it’s a US military slang term.\u00a0 Even though it’s a bit harsher than I might like, it’s a useful concept:\u00a0 In life there are good things and bad things.\u00a0 When you can stop fighting the bad things, even embrace them, you’ll have great energy to put into the good things.<\/p>\n
So your plans changed today.\u00a0 I’ll give you a few seconds to respond with a few key expletives, but then it’s time to look at moving with the flow.<\/p>\n
Go pick up your daughter and take care of her.\u00a0 Reschedule the meetings.\u00a0 Let your boss and colleagues know.\u00a0 But work will continue on, and in the long run you’ll be glad you were able to support your family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We all seem to think that “balance” is the ideal.\u00a0 Work-life balance.\u00a0 Balanced diet.\u00a0 Even balanced spirituality. It’s a never-ending struggle. Let’s consider an alternative concept.\u00a0 Balance implies being static, […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,42],"tags":[49,15,72,44],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-carl","4":"post-1629","6":"format-standard","7":"category-career","8":"category-newsletter","9":"post_tag-balance","10":"post_tag-career-coaching","11":"post_tag-flexibility","12":"post_tag-productivity"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dierschow.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dierschow.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dierschow.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dierschow.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dierschow.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/dierschow.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1630,"href":"http:\/\/dierschow.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629\/revisions\/1630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dierschow.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dierschow.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dierschow.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}