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Why 'work-life balance' is outdated

"Work-life balance" is one of the most commonly abused catchphrases today. But that doesn’t mean the actual practice of work-life balance is any less important to personal happiness.

Enter business coach Lauren Bacon who has re-defined the problem using a matrix. According to Marketplace Weekend anchor Lizzie O’Leary, redefining the problem can help on the quest to to solving it.

The work/life matrix, courtesy of Lauren Bacon
The work/life matrix, courtesy of Lauren Bacon

“The phrase work life balance, it’s annoying.  It can be kind of gendered. I think a lot of women are allergic to it,” she said. “So the idea [with the matrix] is you have two axes, and the vertical one is what is sort of energizing at the top and depleting at the bottom. And the horizontal one is your priorities on the right and and other people’s on the left.”

All of a person’s priorities fall into these quadrants, and problems arise when people spend too much time in the bottom left quadrant, i.e. doing draining tasks for other people.

But this matrix can also help people categorize other daunting tasks more pleasingly. For example: errands. “You’re banging them out… you’re like, ‘I’m doing my taxes, I’m taking stuff to the dry cleaners. You’re actually moving forward. Those are not great things, but you have a sense of accomplishment that you’re checking stuff off,” she said. Which is to say – you’re on the bottom right quadrant. The tasks aren’t energizing, but you’re doing them largely for yourself, not others, so there’s a sense of purpose.

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The same goes for hanging out in the upper left quadrant. “I have found that I am just as energized by working on a good story that I really love as I am by taking a day off and going fly fishing,” said O’Leary.

To find out where you are, Bacon suggests plotting out every task you do on a given day and see where you fall on the axis. How close do the things you do each day align with your goals versus your employers, your friends, and so on? And then, take a look at whether those things excite and energize you or leave you feeling depleted.

So if you are stuck in the bottom left quadrant, what can you do to improve the situation? O’Leary says while it’s all well and good to say follow your passion and the money will follow, they key is really to take almost insanely small steps toward a personal goal.

For example, flossing one tooth. “That’s insane, flossing one tooth?” she said. “The idea is that it does seem insane. So if you try just a tiny, tiny bite of the apple it will seem so ridiculous that you’ll try to do just a little bit more.” Soon, you’ll be flossing all of your teeth.

The other point to note that you might not need to be all in the upper right quadrant. There is something to be said for the rewarding work that takes place in the upper left quadrant as well. Bacon says, “This is where other people’s priorities start to feel more energizing to you… it’s about someone else’s needs being met, but there’s something in it for you, too, in the form of an energy boost.”

Bottom line – toss the linear phrase of work life balance and start thinking along two axes. It could help with the frustration.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly named Marketplace Weekend as an NPR show. It is an American Public Media show aired on public radio.

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