How Life-Work Integration Increases Career Fulfillment

Annnd we're back! I spent the last 30 days traveling with family and took an intentional break from writing. Here are 5 breakthrough lessons on how to blend work + life from my trip: 1. Break your work into components. Too many people worry about their work-life "balance" when they should be focused on a work-life "blend". For me, this means not trying to run away from "work" and rather focus on chunking it down into its various components so I can create flexibility in HOW I work. 80% of the work that bogs me down are the video calls: pitches, investor updates, 1:1's, sales calls, etc. Cutting those out left critical "deep work" that could be nurtured - vision exercises, product roadmapping, hiring definitions, intention setting - all while traveling and not available during "typical" hours. 2. Leverage downtime to create breakthroughs. Take a step back to take a LEAP FORWARD. As a founder, your biggest gains will come from exponential breakthroughs. Those moments are fostered when you are in the right mindset. Stepping outside leads to breaking up your pattern of thinking and allows for more creative discourse. This goes back to point #1. When you blend work and life....you take the restful and joyous moments of life to fuel the creative problem solving needed for work. A lot of my inspiration comes from listening to audiobooks while running or cycling. Right now, I'm loving Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday. Give it a listen! 3. You have to feed your support system. As a leader/founder/CEO - you are only as good as your team. Depending on your work style, you're probably in the weeds a lot. When you step out, it gives them an opportunity to take control and implement things the way they would like to without constant over site. It pressure tests them in some ways and hopefully it excites in other ways. You also begin to see the facets of your work that you can let go and what the team really needs you for. People want to be led and taking the time to foster motivation and alignment is more important the perfecting a few pixels. 4. Slow down to speed up. Having more time away from our product, I could see that we were doing a lot. More features, more integrations, more stuff - but how much of it is actually being used by a high % of customers? It may me reconsider how we could more narrowly focus our mission on our core functionality. I asked myself - how can we do more with less? I don't want a more employees - I want a more efficient team that gets more out of what it builds. 5. Have fun. Life is short...find a way to love what you do and do what you love. I'm a big believer in sacrificing in the short-term for long-term gain, but I also have found that you can still enjoy and appreciate that "sacrifice". Training for an marathon for example means a lot of sacrifice, but I still find myself loving the process. Your work should feel like that - requires a lot of discipline, but it's something you actually enjoy. ✌️

Work-life balance is cute, in theory. In startup land? It’s fictional! I’m leaning more into work-life integration. Because let’s be honest; the lines between personal and professional are blurrier than ever. Some seasons lean into rest, others into the grind. And this summer? It’s a full-on build mode season. Summer 2025 is big for Breshna: 🎯 Major brand & media partnerships 🚀 Rapid scale 💸 Series A prep to fuel the growth ✅ Path to Profitability We’re stepping into sprint mode: ✈️ Travel 💻 Zoom marathons 🎙️ High-stakes convos that require real energy and presence So my co-founder (who also happens to be my husband) and I had a late-night check-in. Not just about the business roadmap, but the life roadmap too. We asked: ❓How long will this sprint last, and what’s the recovery plan? ❓What work trips can double as personal time, even if it’s just a shared meal in a new city? ❓How do we carve out space for us amid the momentum? ❓What kind of support do we need to show up fully, without burning out? Here’s what helps make work-life integration actually work (at least for me): - Identifying what makes the boat go faster (Elizabeth Gould for the win) -Having real conversations about capacity and support -Planning for connection, not just logistics -Being intentional about food, movement, and sleep (thanks Megan Swan & Mark Phillips) -Building in pockets of rest before burnout hits -Knowing when to ask for help, and receiving it fully This isn’t about balance. It’s about designing a life where the mission and the moments can coexist. Because scaling a company doesn’t mean sidelining your life It means finding ways to weave it in, with intention, grace, and maybe a shared Google Calendar. Let’s go, summer.

A career is a marathon. If you don't pace yourself by finding joy in your day-to-day, you'll burn out before the finish. People ask me all the time how Brendan and I keep at it after 18 years of running Wistia together. How do we maintain a business relationship and a friendship? How are we both still working to solve hard problems day in and day out as individuals and as co-founders? Our secret: we have a hell of a lot of fun. Keeping in it for the long haul isn't about keeping work and life separate or chasing that elusive "work/life balance." It's about embracing work/life integration—where both aspects of life fuel each other. You can't entirely separate your work self from your personal self. Everything is connected. The energy we need in our careers comes from our passions and the people we care about, and we can have fulfilling lives outside of work because we love what we're doing at work. Find yourself that integration. Bonus points if you find yourself your Brendan, and you'll see there is no limit to the length of time you can do hard things.

𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗔𝗹𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 I recently sent this photo to a former colleague and was surprised by the reaction. He wrote, "What's the point of being in a place like that if you're just looking at your screen all day?" That made me mad. First, I 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 look at the screen all day I'll. Have. You. Know. But that's not the point. Here's my take: The "work-life balance" we've been sold is a myth, especially for women in leadership roles, and we might as well admit it. Stew Friedman, author of Total Leadership, offers this insight: "𝘌𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦-𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥; 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴-𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘶𝘮 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 (𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦)." I've been a student of Total Leadership since my CEO days at Leadership Austin (I owe Friedman my long-time connection to Bootstrap anti-guru Bijoy Goswami). It's a wonderful coincidence that in my new role as CEO at CUES, we partner with The Wharton School on our flagship CEO Institute program, now in its 30th year. It's also a relevant reference because as female executives, we're expected to: • Excel in our careers • Maintain vibrant personal lives • Keep a picture-perfect home • Be an excellent parent, daughter, sister, aunt, friend • Engage in our community • Stay fit (read: thin) and healthy • Commit to continuous self-improvement For me, balancing all that is a recipe for burnout and perpetual guilt. So I decided to stop balancing and start integrating. Unapologetically. Why I added Wi-Fi to my mountain getaway: • 𝗥𝗲𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀: Work vs. Life is an artificial divide. • 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀: It's about feeling fulfilled across all aspects of life. • 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆: I'm AOK if my team sees me as a whole person. • 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Wi-Fi everywhere means I can be anywhere. Criticize that and you're not a working mom. • 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗹𝘆: When everything is integrated, conscious focus is required. Perfect? Far from it. There are times when lines blur more than I'd like. There are also moments when integration pays off - like wrapping up an important project surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. I'm aware that this kind of integration isn't possible for everyone. Even access to this tiny log cabin in Colorado is a gift I don't take for granted. So to my fellow executives with similar flexibility: as we grapple with modern leadership complexities, perhaps the real question is: How can we create a life that's both productive and fulfilling? Can we blend our responsibilities seamlessly, without sacrificing well-being or effectiveness? What do you think?