Work–life balance and finding what matters

In this video, I talk through some problems with the way people and institutions currently talk about work–life balance. I find there’s too much focus on details rather than tackling the underlying issues. The main problem is that we live in a capitalist society and this frames life in various ways. Institutional changes that don’t tackle that fact are akin to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic because we remain in the overarching system.

While we can’t do much individually about the structure of society (although we must do what we can), we can think more deeply about the world we live in and what we want from it. We can try to think past the assumptions and norms we’ve grown into. We can try to grasp what really matters to us. When we work at this more challenging level to reassess life I think that a good work–life balance can be gained more easily. The details we previously might have focused on will often fall in line with our ways of seeing the world in a more meaningful way.

I post this video as the start point from which I want to engage with people. I want to see the problems in my argument that I haven't already outlined, and I want to develop my thinking. So please pass on critical and/or positive comments to me. I’ll happily reflect on them and my argument in a follow-up video.

There is an extract from Vol1, which I mentioned in the video, for you to download below. This may make some of my points clearer.

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