Why You'll Never Succeed At Work-Life Balance

Do you have a job, or a calling? This is the key to unlocking the mystery of Work-Life Balance.

At the end of your workday, are you looking forward to leaving the desk behind? Or would you rather spend a little more time there because you really don't want to shut down? Your mind is still bubbling with ideas.

But if you can't wait to head home, for the sake of a sane life I hope you'll find your calling.

Life is far too short to be punching clocks the whole way through. Yes, a certain degree of going through the motions will be necessary. Discovery is a sweaty process. Dangerous even. Just look what happened to the Franklin Expedition. Self discovery can be like that too.

Surprise and disappointment are sage — and sometimes sadistic — teachers. Learn from these philosophers.

But while you're working — or should I call this exploring — look for clues that point you in the direction of your calling.

Capture the clues. Keep a journal every day. Use a voice recorder. Even a simple stack of index cards works well for recording ideas.

Schedule a weekly review appointment with yourself and cull those clues.

Yes, make it an appointment on your calendar. There's about a 75% greater chance you'll do the review if it's placed on your calendar.

It'll be messy at times. Embrace the mess.

But once you find your calling, you'll begin to smile. Happiness and fulfillment will follow. And those emotions are infectious. Your friends and families will also begin smiling around you more often.

Forget looking for work-life balance. Find life in your work.

While engaged with friends, keep the ideas bubbling. You can have fun and think at the same time, can't you?

Just have a system for capturing those ideas as they arise while dancing through the rest of your life. Remember the journal, the voice recorder, the index cards.

The world needs your ideas, your energy. Don't turn them off. Work and life don't have to be separate. Guilt is born from thinking they should be.

You'll never succeed at work-life balance because there is no balance.

There is only life. It's calling. How will you answer?