Mom truth
The idea of work-life balance is silly. It implies some degree of equality or even distribution of energy, time, and significance. My job will never overshadow my family, but I sometimes have to sacrifice Team Murphy because my job is also important. Lots of really smart folks talk about work-life harmony, in which different parts of life (work, family, faith, fitness/health, hobbies, etc.) function like instruments in an orchestra, all playing their parts to create beautiful music—i.e., well-being, health, happiness, a good life. That’s a nice analogy, but I think the idea of synergy is better. Maybe it’s just semantics, but to me, harmony implies that the elements stay mostly separate, doing their own things—a violin and a cello can’t share strings, for example. As I write in my book,…
