Life-work balance or a Lifestyle-Business? which one works for you?

The term life-work balance brings up 2.5 million results when googled, yet it still seems elusive. And it’s also apparent that the more successful you become, the more you develop that need for control. Which means even less time for that ever diminishing life-work balance. And you begin to ask or wonder… 

How do I get life-work balance? And how would it work for someone as busy as me?

And there are so many different theories on what works (and what doesn’t) to achieve life-work balance it can get confusing. The lists go on an on. Here's what my Google search showed.

Some say it’s all about priorities and sticking to specific work schedules, whilst others talk about creating ‘me’ time and taking regular holidays.

And then there are those that advise working with your energy levels, so that if you are more energetic in the morning, you would do the bulk of your work then.

Good Advice, but...does life-work balance exist?

All of this advice sounds useful doesn’t it? And I’m sure a lot of research has gone into these 2.5 million results. 

The thing is, it doesn’t really address the real issue in the way that I see work-life balance in the first place. Because for me, and in my experience, there’s no such thing! Even the word, balance, has so many connotations. What is balance? Is it 50/50 70/30, what? Or is it more about days worked, versus days off? 

And it sounds hard!! 

There’s a lot of thinking and planning necessary for many of those suggestions and ideas, and a lot of assuming that isn’t really conducive to real life situations in the real world.

What If?

What if you decide to schedule ‘me’ time for 2.00pm on a Thursday for instance, and you’re busy doing something else. Do you down tools and take your ‘me’ time or carry on working? And if you aren’t that busy and take time off, what do you do? And are you  even in the mood for whatever you might have planned to do with this 'me' time?

Are you able to simply turn off and gently slide into your ‘me’ time? How does that work?

Or, let's say that your energy is highest at 7.00am and you’ve scheduled a meeting at 3.00pm, do you drag your sorry (and tired) self to a meeting and only pay lip-service to it? How productive or fun would that be? Or do you simply not have meetings in the afternoon?

 So do you see the dilemma? Remember this is not a ‘job’, this is your life and business. 

A Different Perspective to Life-Work-Balance

What I prefer, rather than the mystical idea of Life-work balance, is a Lifestyle-Business that fits together like Yin and Yang and is an entity in and of itself. It’s more grounded and gives me a greater sense of something doable that can be fun and lucrative and totally tailored to my values, vision, principles and time preferences.

A Lifestyle-Business supports itself by supporting each piece of the equation. And it fits like hand-in-glove. 

It begins with designing the Lifestyle you want to experience from the get-go, (or when you decide you’ve had enough of the rat-race), and then you slide your business into that so that it aligns with your values, your preferences , your visions and dreams, and your financial goals. 

You might notice that financial goals came last. If your financial goals are your priority then that is what you would begin with. Same principle, different priority. A lifestyle-business is exactly what you want it to be. And that is the point. 

Mindset and Decisions

It begins with the mindset, and that informs every other decision you make.

Decisions about where you live, whether you stay in one place, or like me, move between various locations. Your decisions become much more organic and are often based on nothing more than a gut feeling and a willingness to trust. Trust plays a big part in running an organically designed lifestyle-business.

Trust in yourself, others, and the Universe. You develop much sharper intuition and can make snap decisions with ease. Yes you have plans but they aren’t written out to the nth degree. You don’t need to know HOW everything will  pan out, you just know that it will. You develop a very deep trust in your instincts and inner ‘knowing’ which in turn makes you highly efficient.

This helps you make better and quicker business decisions because you have such a high-level criteria that a quick Yes is easy for you. And this goes back to your values and preferences. 

You know the kind of people or businesses you want to work with, and those that you don’t, and you develop a very fine-tuned BS metre. You can ‘see’ things that others don’t even have on their radar. A kind of 6th sense.

A friend once told me I was like an animal, and I took that as a great compliment. If animals didn’t live by instinct they would die! Fortunately we have choice, too, and I believe that we also need to use our natural instincts and senses much more than we do now.

How a Lifestyle-Business has worked for me

My partner and I have been living in this way for 30+ years so we know it works for us. If it’s something you’ve been thinking about, give it a try.

So many of us are so attached to the old style of living and BE-ing that it can be difficult to even imagine anything else. And that’s fine, for some it might not be a great idea. And some of us have been so conditioned by our upbringing and education that to step outside of the norm would be too big a leap. It’s not for everyone.  

For me, the thought of living in one place, working set hours and doing set things every single day for years and years is enough to send me totally off my trolley. And I know that how I live could have a similar effect on those people who love the status quo. And THAT is exactly why I do what I do, to offer the choices we all have, every single day. Anything is possible.

If my words have in any way made you curious, and you’d like to take it further, allow that curiosity to simmer and bubble up. Keep it simmering until synchronicity or opportunity come knocking on your door (and it will)  and invites you to the next step. The choice point.

That’s often how it begins, and your choice, or decision in that moment could be the catalyst to how you live and work for the rest of your life. 

Or at least for the next chapter of your life.

If you'd like to read more about changing beliefs and mindsets here's a post I wrote about it a while ago with specific steps to help you do just that. 

For us, dividing time between living on our cosy yacht, in a motorhome, in a beautiful city apartment or our off-grid country cabin hideaway, (and places in between), has made life and business just that little bit more interesting and fun. As I said, not for everyone.

A different mindset (for Life-Work Balance)

So instead of thinking Life-Work ‘balance’, I invite you to think more along the lines of Harmony, Alignment, Gratitude, and Choice. And of course, freedom. Words and states that lift your spirit rather than give you even more tasks to add to your already overloaded to-to list. 

Life-work balance or a Lifestyle-Business? Isn’t it wonderful that you get to choose. 

And, for the curious, and those who are thinking of working with me, my definition of a Lifestyle-Business is this:

I  believe that work and life are a synergistic combination of doing something you love  that aligns with living a lifestyle you love and gives you the abundance to support those choices. Abundance to me is enough time, enough passion, enough money and enough energy to always be involved and inspired by what I'm doing.

I also believe that letting go of control, trusting in self and the Universe, and self-belief play a huge part in that, and why I address those areas in detail when working with clients in my intensive 7 week Lifestyle-Business Transformation program.

If nothing else, Covid-19 has given us cause to pause, rethink and re-evaluate what is really important in our lives. And we have the choice to make the changes we want to make to ensure that the next chapter of our lives is more meaningful and more fulfilling. And I'd love to be the Catalyst to help make that happen for you.