What If We Aim for Work-Life Alignment Instead?

During my days in the corporate world, the term work-life balance has been constantly used and reiterated during team meetings and townhalls. Being part of the workforce, having work-life balance is essential, it seems, because it helps prevent burn-out. Having the time allotted for leisure activities or volunteering with friends or family, or simply just having me-times, would help refresh us and take our minds off of the stress that our work entails. So, when we get back to the workplace, we feel recharged and re-energized to face another work-week ahead. Although work-life balance indeed helps productivity, it is not enough.

Balance, based on the Merriam- Webster dictionary, is the “stability produced by even distribution of weight on each side of the vertical axis”. This being said, balance is like walking on a tightrope while carrying a stick with two sandbags on each side; exerting much effort making sure that either one would not get higher or lower from the other or else we’ll fall down flat on the floor. In this sense, there is a constant feeling of a push and pull between the two ends of the stick. It’s as if we always have to choose between work or our personal life and that the two just can’t cooperate with one another.

But, what if, instead of aiming for work-life balance, we aim for alignment?

Again, based on the Merriam-Webster dictionary, alignment is “an arrangement of groups or forces in relation to one another”. Putting this definition in the context of work and personal life, these two things are actually related to each other and not exactly opposing sides. And when we think of alignment, it goes deeper than just being mindful on how we manage our time and resources. Rather, it’s a way of being aware about our strengths and our values and making sure that these are lived out both at work and in our personal lives. If we know that the path we are taking is aligned to our strengths and values, then managing our time and resources would become easier.

Going back to the metaphor earlier, although it is important to keep the balance between the time and resources we put in both our work and personal life, focusing more on the tightrope itself and making sure our steps are aligned to it will help us reach to our end goal less effortlessly because our strengths and values make up who we are.

When what we do is aligned to who we are, we find more meaning and we are less compelled to choose between work and life. Because, in reality, work and life go together.