Aim for clarity: In defence of a work-life imbalance

livemint.com:

The global mind industry’s most popular spurious advice is that we must maintain a ‘work-life balance.’ This view is popular because it has the word ‘balance’ in it. People tend to believe that anything that seeks balance must be wise, healthy and correct. But from what I have seen, the best way to live is to have a singular preoccupation and bet most of one’s life on pursuing it.

There is a perception that people who spend a great deal of their time on their calling or material ambitions eventually pay a price. They triumph at ‘work’ but lose in ‘life.’ This moral is so ingrained in us that even as a child, I could deduce its meaning from improbable signs. For instance, when a Malayalam film showed a woman in sleeveless blouse, I instantly knew she was most likely a ‘career woman’ who also had sleeping pills because she was unhappy.

That was far from the truth even then, but we didn’t know that. The fact is that people who dedicate a lot of time to material or artistic pursuits are doing just fine. And those who spend all their time on ‘family life,’ too, are fine, especially if they do not try to elevate some pastime into a profession.

In fact, the most confused people are those who divide their time equally in a Solomonic way between ‘work’ and ‘life,’ trying to attain an illusory balance and enjoying neither. Generally, balance is an ideal that is not meant to be achieved. Rather, it is to be used as a guiding moral that can pull you away from excess.

That is why people like the word ‘balance.’ It makes a lot of sense in many aspects of life, like exercise and food. And that is how the world has been trained to think of the ‘work-life balance.’ But it is bad advice. We must instead strive for a work-life imbalance.