LIAM CHAI

Work–life balance is a concept including proper prioritizing between “work” (career and ambition) and “lifestyle” (Health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development/meditation). Related, though broader, terms include “lifestyle calm balance” and “life style choices” – Wikipedia.com

Why separate the two? Why is work not play?

I think this work-life phrase is becoming redundant. I’m not looking for a good work-life balance. I’m looking for a good life. I could say I’m looking for good work too, but the word now holds too many negative implications.

I don’t want to do work that has to be balanced with life. I want to do life. If I work for forty hours a week, why is that not considered life? That’s a massive chunk of my life.

Instead, I want to combine them. I want to do work that I consider part of my life. I want to do work where there is no separation between what people call work and what people call life. My work is my life.

That sounds like I want to become a workaholic. And that’s why I mentioned that work now holds many negative implications. A doctor’s work might be his life, because that is what he spends almost every waking hour doing.

However I want to do work that I enjoy so much that the thought of separating it from life would be absurd.

Maybe this idea I’m writing about sounds crazy. Just a few years ago it probably was. A few centuries ago it was impossible. In this age of technology, do we serve it or do we allow it to serve us?

 “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw

Let’s carry on with the doctor example. Let’s imagine you’re a qualified doctor, however you now have the power to set all the rules – how long you work, how many patients you see and where you work.

Perhaps you live with the adage that less is more. You limit yourself to seeing three patients a day. You are not overworking so you can fully immerse yourself in your work. You begin creating amazing relationships with your patients.

Perhaps you understand that more money doesn’t mean more happiness. You charge a cheaper rate than other doctors. However because you aren’t overworking yourself you can give everything you have to each patient you take on. This level of care is unheard of and demand becomes higher than supply.

I’ll stop waffling and come to the point. I do set the rules. I am the only person that can. If I don’t agree with needing a work-life balance (or whatever other issue) then I’ll take steps to creating my own set of rules.

So the next time I have an idea, or a dream, or something I want to change – think big. Let your thoughts keep going without restriction, without that realistic mind saying “but this won’t happen” or “what happens if it flops? or “things just don’t work that way.” Let it run past this barrier. Then do, but do small.

Think big, but do small :-).