Forget "balance"-- embrace "flux"
There are thousands of books and articles recommending ways in which a person can find, and maintain, balance in their lives. Typically this refers to work/life balance. But what if work is your life? What if your career is what you want to prioritize, and what makes you happiest? This philosophy is not for everyone—nor am I trying to profess that you adopt it. There are some that will identify with this burning, deep desire to place a high value on work contributions because it forms a very deep part of their identity. It is for this group that I offer this perspective.
It’s mid-February, and you’re working 60+ hours a week in order to keep your current projects on track, respond to inquiries for future work, stay abreast of trends in the company, finish system-imposed paperwork, complete internal projects that are urgent and set aside enough time to keep looking 3, 6, 9 months ahead. You don’t feel drained—you feel alive. The energy that you expend comes back three fold as you see the progress you’re making, feel the satisfaction in keeping your team busy in tough times, and excited to see your long term plans unfold. You feel a great deal of satisfaction in putting in the hours to see your vision materialize.
You know that certain business opportunities are fleeting and therefore require your immediate attention and time. You’re in a “building” phase of your life. Building requires focus, and fuel. Distractions need to be limited, your day needs to be kept on track, and your personal affairs need to be carefully prioritized based on urgency and return on investment (ROI)—just like the rest of your business decisions. The metrics for ROI are different for everyone, but you need to understand that the inputs are finite: 24 hours in a day, a few hours of premium brain fuel, about twice the amount of mid-grade and the rest is low-quality fuel that produces very little in relation to how much effort you must spend to get there. It is up to you to decide how much of each type of fuel gets diverted to career, parenting, spouse, caregiving, social life, physical health—the list goes on.
I understand that the period of my life which I am in contains some fleeting opportunities to lay a very solid foundation for my future, so that one day (maybe 5 years from now) I will be able to shift the focus back to elements other than work and enjoy the fruits of my labour. I am self-aware enough to know that this “black and white” aspect of my personality has been with me since I was about 5 and it’s hard for me to hang out in the mid-zone of any activity, decision, or endeavour. So instead of beating myself up about my steadfastness on choosing work as my highest priority and compass, I built a framework for myself called “flux”.
1. flux [ fləks ] NOUN the action or process of flowing or flowing out; continuous change; fluidity;
This is a beautiful concept, and maybe even more so because flux also appears in the world of physics: “the flow of a physical property in space, frequently also with time variation”. Every good theory needs to have some parallels back to physics. Ahhh lovely, so now we have an idea that flux is the ebb and sway of life, a fluid change in properties of space and time. Apply this now to the example of someone who is driving all their efforts into the single channel of “work” and you will start to see that the focus on building, creating, committing a period of one’s life to a smaller scope rather than being spread thin amongst many facets doesn’t mean that there is an imbalance. The opportunity to swing back to other life elements still remains. It is a very active, conscious decision to tune out or minimize those other elements for a set period of time which allows someone to produce the greatest result.
The fluidity aspect of flux is very important. It is a skill to be able to identify when and where to apply the effort and identify the focal point. Someone who focuses their effort on one singular element, without fail, without change, without evaluating or understanding how this element adds to their life goals is not balanced. Fluidity cannot be achieved without an understanding of priorities. What phase of your life are you in? Which values are you trying to build up in your life? Are they sequential or independent?
This thinking has helped me better understand the decision making which I need to follow in order to fulfill my life plan. Ultimately I’ve made it my highest priority to not look back with regret at “what I could have built”. I write this mainly for those who are accused of not having a great “work/life” balance. I want to challenge that perspective and shed light on the benefits of tailoring your life to meet the current phase you’re in; there will simply be periods of time where you cannot have it all or do it all. So long as you are satisfied with the outcomes you’re working towards, it is perfectly acceptable to direct more of your energy to one element than the other. Stay fluid, check your activities against your list of higher priorities and stay focused on what you want.
