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It’s Only Common Sense: Stop Calling It ‘Work-Life Balance’

We’ve turned “work-life balance” into a modern religion complete with gurus, rituals, and guilt. Everyone’s chasing it, preaching it, or posting about it. “I finally learned to balance work and life,” they say, as if that’s the goal. However, the goal isn’t balance; it’s meaning. Balance implies there’s a war: work vs. life, as if one is stealing from the other.

That mindset is toxic. It tells you that work is something to escape from rather than something that gives you energy, pride, and purpose. It’s why so many people are miserable. They’re not overworked; they’re uninspired.

Work-life balance is a polite way of saying, “I don’t care about my job anymore,” designed to avoid effort, accountability, or ambition. People hide behind it when they’re burned out—not from too many hours, but from too little meaning. We have created a culture where people treat showing up, doing their best, and caring as poor boundaries. Don’t work too hard,” people say, as if hard work is the enemy. Hard work doesn’t break people; pointless work does—doing tasks that feel disconnected from impact, led by managers who talk about “alignment” but never explain why the work matters. A purpose-driven work life balances that.

I’ve seen people work 80-hour weeks and glow with energy, and I’ve seen people drag themselves through a 35-hour week and collapse in exhaustion. The difference? One group knows why they’re doing it. The other doesn’t.The myth about burnout is that it’s about hours, but it’s actually about connection. When you’re doing something you believe in, the hours feel different. You can be tired, but satisfyingly so. Anyone who has successfully created a company, a family, or a mission will tell you they don’t remember the hours; they remember the meaning. The late nights don’t kill you when they serve something you care about. So, before you rearrange your calendar, rearrange your thinking. Don’t ask, “How can I do less?” Ask, “How can I make what I do matter?”

The Best Companies Create Purpose, Not Perks
We’ve spent two decades mistaking culture for comfort. We thought free snacks, flexible Fridays, and hybrid schedules would make people care, but they don’t. They make people comfortable, not committed. The best workplaces make people feel like they’re part of something bigger than their job title. They give context to the effort. They explain why excellence matters, not just for the company’s bottom line, but for the people they serve. Companies that thrive have employees who show up even when they don’t have to, because the work means something.

When people understand how their effort connects to something important—customers, the mission, each other—engagement happens, not from ping-pong tables or “mental health Fridays.” Leaders, take note: People don’t quit companies that give them purpose. The difference between a manager and a leader is that managers talk about balance, while leaders create meaning. They help people see why the grind matters, and they put the work in perspective, reminding their team that the long hours and tough decisions add up to something important. They connect the dots between today’s effort and tomorrow’s achievement. Leadership isn’t protecting people from work; it’s protecting them from meaningless work. When people feel seen, challenged, and valued, they don’t need to “balance” their work; they embrace it. They count progress instead of hours and chase contribution instead of comfort. If your team is not engaged, don’t ask how to lighten their load; ask how to deepen their purpose.

If you spend Sunday night dreading Monday morning, the problem isn’t your schedule; it’s your life. You can’t fix a lack of purpose with a three-day weekend or fill a void with “balance.” If you hate what you do, no amount of yoga or vacation days will save you. The cure is doing work that aligns with who you are and what you believe in.

We live in an age where people chase comfort instead of calling, jumping from job to job looking for things to be easier, not better. But every simple job becomes unbearable when it’s empty, and every hard job becomes rewarding when it’s meaningful. Don’t confuse exhaustion with emptiness. One is cured by rest; the other by purpose. If your work feels empty, don’t escape it; redefine it. Find where you can make a difference. Or if you can’t, have the courage to find work where you can.

Conversations about “balance” are a distraction. The goal is integration, and living a life where work isn’t separate from you but a reflection of you. You don’t have to love every minute of your job, but you should love what you’re building toward and see your fingerprints on something that matters.

Stop running from your work and trying to carve out a life that’s separate from it. Instead, build a life that includes work you’re proud of. When your work has meaning, you don’t need to balance it, just live it. It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.