Move beyond the work-life balance dilemma

We used to think that our private and professional lives must be kept separate. We worked and played in different spaces at different times, and didn’t mix the two. But technological and social advances have shattered this division. Women now devote more time and energy to their jobs, and this is naturally reflected, by choice or obligation, in the time and energy men now spend on house and family. The aspirations of younger generations also lend more weight to the private sphere. Finally, new work methods and technological innovations have increasingly blurred the line between work and personal life. Concretely, people can now manage reservations for an upcoming holiday weekend from their desk at the office or answer professional emails while sitting on the couch at home in the evening. This work-life porosity is not a bad thing per se, but actually lets us manage our time more flexibly and comfortably in many cases. One British manager, for instance, confesses that he doesn’t miss having to stay late at the office to hold phone conferences with the U.S., which he can now easily do from home after dining with his family. Likewise, we can resolve many private matters in no time while consulting personal emails or using the Internet at the office.

At the same time, constantly mixing personal and professional activities may also generate stress. Passing quickly from one domain to the other requires that we continuously adapt, which may well become a source of tension and intellectual fatigue. Indeed, everyone is not equally able to get the kids ready for school while answering an urgent question from an Indian business partner! An omnipresent feeling of guilt is also common. For example, a father may easily feel frustrated on two levels as he checks his BlackBerry compulsively during his daughter’s chess competition: first, he regrets not being fully available for his family, and second, he worries about the quality of his overly terse responses to his business partners.

Yet, it hardly seems possible or even desirable to revert to the strict separation of work and private life. On the other hand, we can take a few simple measures to manage the constant tension between the two, or, even better, capitalize on this tension to strike a new balance.

In this synopsis:
- Manage your time like a financial budget
- Strike a lasting work-life balance
- Four approaches to manage work-life porosity