Work-Life Balance is a Myth

Many of you reading this are self-employed artists working hard day and night to put food on your table, keep a roof over your head, Uncle Sam out of your pockets, and your significant other (if applicable) happy. In the course of all that, you try to “balance” your work with your life (e.g. family, health, etc.) Thus the term “work/life balance.”

But is it really a balancing act? Isn’t “work” a part of your “life”? Maybe the reason why it’s so difficult to achieve a perfect “work/life” balance is because the concept of “balancing” two things which are so intricately intertwined is a wrong way about doing it. Perhaps there’s a different way of looking at it.

Lifestyle “Convergence”

Last month I got a direct message tweet from Tamara Lackey inviting me to come out to North Carolina to produce a promo video for a special series she will be teaching this year on creativeLIVE. Just in case you don’t know who Tamara is (and I’m sure most of the photogs reading this do), Tamara is a wildly successful portrait photographer, online TV show host, instructor and fellow Peachpit author. (She’s also a devoted wife and mother of three). creativeLIVE (as I’m sure most of you know) is the online education sensation co-founded a couple of years ago by uber-commercial photographer/director Chase Jarvis along with his partner in crime Craig Swanson. Last year they raised $7 million in financing and it looks like they’re putting that money to good use. Many of their promo videos in the past have just been instructors plopping their 5D Mark-whatever on a tripod, hitting record, then talking to the camera using the on-camera mic. Now they’re upping their game by having some of their promos professionally produced. I’m honored to have produced one of the first “game-uppers.”

This series that Tamara will be teaching is a must for any of you who have felt over-burdened, over-worked, unhealthy, broke, and/or lacking focus in life. The details are in the video below. But one of the concepts she mentions is “lifestyle convergence”:tThis idea that work and life are two things that need to be balanced, but are rather two things that are parts of your life and should be managed accordingly.

Now, More Than Ever

Now is the time to start making a difference in your life. Just this week I read two posts illustrating that this issue goes to the highest levels. One was an email newsletter from a high-profile portrait photography couple sharing how life had gotten so crazy and they had gotten so overwhelmed, they needed to make major changes in their business and home life. The second was a touching and very raw blog post by world-renown filmmaker and instructor Philip Bloom. Bloom shared how the death of his best friend to cancer (a best friend he admitted to not seeing in a while because of Bloom’s crazy schedule) opened his eyes to the necessity of examining his life. I strongly encourage you to read his post.

So watch the video below, then make a step in the right direction to make 2013 the year where you get your life and business act together.