Dividends & Interest
The Pipe Dream of Perfect Balance
Craig Chappelow
Work-life balance is a myth. And the most commonly used analogy for such a balance—a set of perfectly level scales—is bogus. Here is how it supposedly looks: suspended in the tray on one side of the scales is your personal life, and suspended in the tray on the other side is your work life. The implication is that with attention and effort you can keep both trays exactly level. When one side starts to dip, you immediately take some kind of action to balance it out. I suggest that a perfect balance almost never occurs, except for those brief moments when the trays pass each other on their way up or down.
Sue Shellenbarger, who writes the column “Work & Family” for The Wall ...
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