Balance is B.S.

Book description

Combine the best parts of your personal and professional life to live the life you really want

Balance is B.S. is an unflinching and honest look at the challenges today’s working woman faces in balancing her professional and personal lives. In the United States, women comprise over 40% of household income. Increased gender diversity in the modern business landscape continues to have a positive impact on bottom lines and revenue reports across the economy, and offers significant benefits for ambitious women in the workplace. This increase of women in the workforce does present a serious problem—women are working longer and harder outside of the home, but their workload has not lessened inside of the home. While their career prospects rise, expectations of their family and personal lives remain flat. Women pursue the mythical “work-life” balance, and feel guilty for not reaching it. There is a better way.

This insightful book provides working women with real-world advice, enabling them to blend their personal and professional lives, avoid burning out, and raise expectations of themselves and those around them. Every chapter presents practical exercises to identify values, and focus on what matters most. Following the path laid out by this essential guide, you will learn how to: 

  • Blend business and personal lives together without compromising your values
  • Adjust expectations of yourself and others around you
  • Use practical exercises and effective techniques to combine work, social, family, and parenting lives
  • Stop feeling guilty about your work-life balance, and embrace the best parts of both 

Balance is B.S. is an invaluable resource for working women regardless of profession, experience, and status. Author Tamara Loehr draws on her years of entrepreneurial success to share her proven methods of merging work, play, and family to map out and reach the life you actually want to live.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Disclaimer
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. PART I: Balance Is Bullshit
    1. CHAPTER 1: Rising without Compromising
      1. NOTES
    2. CHAPTER 2: The Myths That Keep Us Down
      1. THE MYTH OF WHAT MAKES US WORTHY, ACCORDING TO OUR GENDER
      2. THE MYTH OF “HAVING IT ALL”
      3. THE MYTH OF “WORK-LIFE BALANCE”
      4. NOTES
    3. CHAPTER 3: Balance Is Bullshit: Blend Instead
      1. NOTE
  5. PART II: A Workbook for Rising Women
    1. CHAPTER 4: “Moving Up” versus Rising
      1. CATEGORIZE, DON'T COMPARTMENTALIZE
      2. HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
    2. CHAPTER 5: V Squared
      1. KNOW YOUR VALUE
      2. NAVIGATE LIFE ACCORDING TO YOUR VALUES, NOT YOUR PLANS
      3. HOW TO DEFINE YOUR VALUES
      4. WHEN VALUES COLLIDE: BEING AN EMOTIONALLY SOPHISTICATED WOMAN IN AN EVER-CHANGING LANDSCAPE
      5. BE A WOMAN, NOT A CHILD
    3. CHAPTER 6: Vision Boards Are Bullshit
      1. SETTING EFFECTIVE GOALS
      2. MOTIVATION
      3. IT'S NOT ABOUT THE GOAL
      4. A LOCKED-IN GOAL IS A DANGEROUS GOAL
      5. FREE YOURSELF FROM GOALS
    4. CHAPTER 7: It's All About the Journey
      1. THE BEAUTY OF SHARING YOUR BUCKET LIST
      2. START YOUR OWN LIST!
      3. NOTE
    5. CHAPTER 8: Filling Up Your Soul
      1. YOUR PERSONAL PIE
      2. PEOPLE WHO GET IT
      3. THINGS THAT FILL UP YOUR SOUL
      4. WHEN YOU'RE STUCK
      5. MENTAL WELLNESS
      6. THE WEIGHT OF BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR
      7. WARNING SIGNS
      8. COACHING BREAK
      9. NOTES
    6. CHAPTER 9: Breaking Out of Your Bubble
      1. GET OUT OF YOUR BUBBLE
      2. GROW YOUR RING SIZE
      3. UNDERSTAND YOUR LEARNING STYLE
    7. CHAPTER 10: Choose Your Own Adventure
      1. WORK AS A JOURNEY, NOT A LADDER
      2. CHOOSING YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
      3. DEFINING YOUR SUCCESS—AND GETTING IT
      4. CREATING YOUR VOCATION
    8. CHAPTER 11: Work-Life Blend
      1. THE MYTH OF “WORK-LIFE BALANCE”
      2. FACT: WOMEN GET PREGNANT
      3. WORK-LIFE BALANCE MYTH #1: “JUST WORK PART-TIME!”
      4. WORK-LIFE BALANCE MYTH #2: “JUST BE YOUR OWN BOSS!”
      5. FINDING YOUR BLEND
      6. DEFINING THE BLEND
      7. INVITING PEOPLE INTO THE BLEND
      8. STARTING SMALL
      9. NOTES
    9. CHAPTER 12: When Breadwinning Doesn't Feel Like “Winning”
      1. WHEN BREADWINNING DOESN'T FEEL LIKE WINNING
      2. TALKING TO YOUR PARTNER ABOUT MONEY
      3. INVESTING IN YOURSELF
      4. MY PERSONAL RULES AROUND FINANCES
      5. FIRST, COVER YOUR PROMISES
      6. TRACK YOUR MAGIC NUMBERS
      7. GO AND PLAY
    10. CHAPTER 13: “Thanks for asking”
      1. SUCCESSFUL WOMEN INTIMIDATE MEN
      2. SETTING EXPECTATIONS
      3. CONDITIONAL AGREEMENTS AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
      4. CARRYING YOUR OWN BAGGAGE
      5. PROBLEM SOLVING
    11. CHAPTER 14: “Mommy, don't go!”
      1. GUILT, MYTHS, AND EXPECTATIONS
      2. WHY YOU NEED TO STOP SAYING THE WORD “COMPROMISE”
      3. REDEFINING SUCCESS AS A MOTHER
      4. REDEFINING WORK IN THE EYES OF YOUR KIDS
      5. REDEFINING GENDER ROLES
      6. THE PROBLEM WITH PUSH DIAMONDS
      7. NOTES
    12. CHAPTER 15: The Business of Family
      1. BUILDING CULTURE AT HOME
      2. BE A PARTNER, NOT THE BOSS
      3. EXPECTATIONS AT WORK AND HOME
      4. HAPPY HOME, HEALTHY BUSINESS
      5. MIXING BUSINESS AND PLEASURE
      6. NOTE
    13. CHAPTER 16: Territory versus Tribe
      1. A NEW WAY TO EXPERIENCE COMMUNITY
      2. FROM LIKES TO MEANING
      3. BLENDED FRIENDSHIPS
      4. FRIENDSHIP RED FLAGS
      5. NOTE
    14. CHAPTER 17: Why Blending Matters
      1. CHARITY VERSUS LEGACY
      2. LEGACY THROUGH BUSINESS
      3. LEGACY FOR YOUR LOVED ONES
      4. LEGACY BY LIVING EXAMPLE
      5. LEGACY GIVES YOU LASER FOCUS
      6. START NOW
      7. NOTES
  6. PART III: Keep Blending for Life
    1. CHAPTER 18: Things to Do Because I Want To
      1. THINGS TO DO BECAUSE I WANT TO: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
  7. Conclusion
    1. WHAT'S NEXT?
  8. Index of Coaching Exercises
  9. Index
  10. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Balance is B.S.
  • Author(s): Tamara Loehr
  • Release date: April 2019
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119550402