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We’ve been sold a lie dressed up as wisdom. Work-life balance — the idea that you can neatly portion your energy between two competing halves — assumes a kind of symmetry that doesn’t exist in the real world. Especially not if you’re leading.
The metaphor of the scales implies that one side always comes at the cost of the other. More work means less life. More life means you’re not committed enough. It’s a zero-sum game that leaves everyone feeling like they’re losing.
What if we replaced the scales with something more honest? A rhythm. A pulse. Something that acknowledges seasons of intensity and seasons of recovery — without guilt in either direction.
The leaders I work with don’t need more balance. They need more intention. They need the clarity to know when to push hard and the courage to step back when the moment calls for it.
On the mountain, there’s no such thing as balance. There’s reading the terrain. There’s knowing when to climb and when to shelter. There’s respecting the weather, not fighting it.
The same applies to leadership. Stop trying to balance. Start trying to read the terrain of your own life with the same precision you bring to your strategy.