The safety, warmth and wellness of the hearth radiates within us.
Getty
Work-life Balance flamed out in 2020. The life-work balance revolution blazed in its place.
Back in the day, before Covid-19, we struggled to squeeze a bit of our lives into the consuming vortex of work. We charmingly called this “work-life balance” while knowing such “balance” was a lie.
Then Covid-19 hit, and we traded our platinum miles to sleep in our own beds, care for our aging parents and reconnect with our childhood friends. We drank from the well of our cozy, messy, maddening, nourishing lives, only now realizing how thirsty we were for non-working time and experiences.
Now that we’ve felt it, we’re not going to give it up.
Yes, lots of us are itching to break out our work clothes or make a trip to the office to convene with colleagues around a white board. But this movement is much bigger than the work-from-home debate.
We changed the math. We looked the lie of work-life balance in the eye as we experienced its mirror equation: life-work balance.
What Happened in the Grand Experiment?
The wisdom of the ages tells us we have finally arrived back where we belong.
The ancient Greeks placed the protection of home in the goddess Hestia. Her job was to safeguard the hearth at the center of life. Her fireplace was the source of safety and well-being in the home. It drew the family together for warmth, for food, for light, for celebration and for spiritual sustenance. It formed the inner core of well-being.
Whether we gather around the kitchen island for homework or around the TV to watch the big game, our modern desire for a hearth persists. We intuitively understand the sense that our home needs a “center” – a gathering place that provides comfort, warmth, and togetherness.
When we connect to this core within ourselves, we access what I call our “center of well-being.” The space of safety, warmth and wellness symbolized by the ancient hearth now radiates within us.
But Will the Work Get Done?
This is the modern world — not ancient Greece. The equation must balance. If we switch the variables to life-work, will we stifle productivity?
Actually, no.
Studies over the past 18 months have found flexible work arrangements did not materially damage business productivity. This new way of working actually boosted productivity 5% as workers adopted new technology and spent less time commuting, according to a study of 30,000 Americans by researchers at the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago.
Less tangible but more fundamental than avoiding traffic and the advent of Zoom is this groundbreaking reversal to life-work balance. The opportunity to go back to our metaphorical hearth — to put life first — allows us to recalibrate and prioritize those things that keep us connected to our core of well-being.
The Great Resignation demonstrates that the life-work balance revolution is well underway. As reversing the equation becomes the norm, company cultures will need to transform to embrace it or they will watch their performance aspirations go up in flames.
The old work-life balance was a lie because there wasn’t room in it for life. All was work. The new equation – life-work balance – is true. We’re living it. We can have both as long as we put our lives first and our work second.
This is the life-work revolution of our time.