5 Invaluable Lessons from my Work-Life Balance Podcast | by Prash Raval

“How’s your work-life balance?“

That question has become a staple in the modern playbook on ‘having a work-related chat with your friend’, and you could probably come up with an answer pretty quickly. But stepping back, it’s a more complex question than you might expect. Answering it requires a set of assumptions about what ‘work’, ‘life’, and ‘balance’ mean, as well as a meaningful awareness of what work-life balance is right for you personally. 

In today’s always-connected world, I believe that being able to answer that question accurately offers a key to unlocking a better quality of life. And after one year of reading up on the topic, as well as hosting several conversations on my podcast Work, Life, No Balance, it has become clear that work-life balance covers so much more than your working hours.

Here are my five most eye-opening learnings about work-life balance:

1. ‘Life’: You should be able to prioritise the things most important to you outside of work.
What’s most important to you? It will include the things that bring you most joy in life, but perhaps also deeply fulfilling personal commitments such as caring for family members. Those things will require some particular combination of time and energy that work should not constrain. 

Personally, I prioritise daily routines such as going to the gym in the morning, reading at lunch, and having a relaxing dinner with my wife every evening. As a result, for me balance is achieved by optimising daily working hours as well as taking proper breaks (so I have energy in the evenings for deep dinner conversations!).
 
But other life priorities would require different things. If travelling was my passion, perhaps I’d optimise for a job with long holidays or the ability to work remotely. If raising a family was my calling in life, I might optimise for a job with generous parental leave options. 

2. ‘Work’: Work should enhance your quality of life.
Work should be an essential ingredient to your happiest life, rather than something that diminishes it. How is that possible? The most obvious way to achieve this is to work a job that relates to a specific personal passion. However, not all of us can be artists, chefs, and footballers! 

A more practical approach is to find work that entails daily activities that energise and stimulate you - whether that’s building slick spreadsheet models, designing beautiful apps or mentoring junior team members. I like to think about things I enjoy that are difficult to find outside of work - like leading and inspiring a team - and optimise for those in my job.

3. ‘Balance’: It’s actually more about ‘harmony’ than ‘balance’. 
Rather unhelpfully, the term ‘balance’ can make us think of ‘work’ and ‘life’ as separate things on either side of a weighing scale. In reality, of course, work is a part of life. As a result, it’s about feeling that there is harmony between the work and non-work aspects of your life. 

For example, this could be about alignment in personal values and the values of your organisation. Alternatively, I feel like I’m achieving work-life harmony when I don’t have to switch into a ‘work mode’ - when I’m bringing my authentic self to work, and I allow myself to feel my true human emotions. 

4. Causes of imbalance: It’s often about internal rather than external causes. 
We usually think of poor work-life balance involving an evil corporation or horrible boss that is out to squeeze every drop out of you with their unreasonable workloads and deadlines. And sure, there will often be some elements of this that are true. But what’s stopping you from saying “no” or asking to push back those deadlines? What’s stopping you from negotiating a change of role or finding a new job that better suits your personal needs for balance? 

For me, it was my ego. I was one of those insecure overachievers who overworked in order to constantly feel like the highest performer. It took a period of burnout and subsequent introspection to call it a day on my unhealthy work habits and eventually leave behind the flashy job titles and prestigious companies.

5. Privilege: Worrying about work-life balance is deeply privileged. 
Let’s get real for a second - it is a privilege to be able to talk about this topic. For many of us, optimising work is about ensuring survival rather than improving quality of life. For many others, the main thing holding them back from quality of life isn’t work - it might be health issues or a difficult home life. 

So why am I even writing about it? The topic deserves broader attention if finding greater balance can free up individuals’ time and energy for more selfless pursuits that give back to society. Consider our ageing population and the growing proportion of society that will require day-to-day care. Could we each play a part in caring for a local member of our communities if we stopped working so much?

To sum up - work-life balance is about work feeling like a non-constraining, enhancing, and seamless part of life. In practice, it’s unlikely you will definitively achieve ‘balance’ for any sustained period of time - balance naturally comes and goes, ebbs and flows, and swings either side of the gold line. 

But I believe the key to a happier life is to constantly improve your understanding of what gives you balance, as well as the aspects of yourself that hold you back from achieving and sustaining it. And then - as you create greater balance and unlock personal capacity - use that capacity to do something meaningful in the world greater than yourself or your business.

Prash Raval is a Multiverse Project Management alum based in Oxfordshire, UK. Here’s more about him:

After an unhappy start to my career as an investment banker in London, I now find myself running a bridalwear business with my wife, living in the countryside and continually crafting healthier work-life habits. I love to write - to discover myself and to inspire others to do the same, with the hope we can each tap into our greatest potential to make the world a bit better. I also host the ‘Work, Life, No Balance’ podcast, where I seek to help people find work-life balance in today’s always-connected world.