Several years ago, Jeff Bezos was asked how he manages work-life balance for himself.
To answer, he started explaining how he made sense of that idea. He sees the metaphor of the balance as somewhat dangerous, as he describes it as implying that there is a tradeoff between work and life. With his hands, he seems to describe a scale like the one Lady Justice is often shown holding in her hand—a scale used to weigh the substance and value of arguments to then show in favor of which side it tips.
For Bezos, the idea he prefers and how he makes sense of the integration of work in life is by observing how energy can fuel different aspects of his life, namely family and work. From his perspective, the energy he gains and develops from the different situations becomes how he decides what is good for him and what he prefers to avoid.
What he doesn’t engage in, is a consideration of what life describes when it is put on one side of the scale and work on the other. That’s probably because describing all there is to life beyond work would have required a lengthy explanation.
What he found and describes is a model that is valid for him, and that allows him to teach others a way of life that worked for him. However, one could say that both ideas remain aligned if one thinks of the scale in the way it is being used. Whenever the scale is out of balance, the work is to decide on how to proceed next. If the scale tips to one side, there is a need to react to this situation and find ways to bring it back into balance.
It’s like riding a bicycle. As one drives it, one finds ways to adapt to the situation by tilting the bicycle to one or the other side whenever necessary. We learn this from the many situations in which we are out of balance.
The main difficulty most people have with the “work-life balance” metaphor is learning how it applies to them. They need to find their answer and accept that the answer needs to offer flexibility, allowing regular adjustment to a given situation.
And energy or motivation is indeed a good place to start.
