How to Redefine Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance isn't about splitting your time 50/50. Here's what nobody tells you. I spent 10 years trying to "balance" everything perfectly. 8 hours work. 8 hours life. 8 hours sleep. Like a robot programmed for equality. It nearly broke me. Because life doesn't work in neat little boxes. Some weeks, your daughter needs you at every doctor's appointment. Some weeks, a clinical trial is failing and needs your full attention. Some weeks, you're just trying to survive. The truth about balance? It's not daily. It's seasonal. Here's what I learned after 10+ years in clinical research: THE OLD WAY: → Equal hours every day → Rigid boundaries → Guilt when work bleeds into life → Shame when life interrupts work → Exhaustion from trying to be perfect THE REAL WAY: → Some days are 70% work, 30% life → Some days are 20% work, 80% family → Clear priorities for each season → Communication with everyone involved → Grace when things don't go as planned I remember when my wife had our second child. For 3 months, I was maybe 30% at work. Emails piled up. Projects moved slower. But you know what? My team understood. My manager supported me. And when I came back fully, I gave 150%. Because that's how real balance works. You don't owe anyone a perfect split. You owe yourself an intentional life. 3 questions that changed everything for me: → What season am I in right now? → Who needs me most this week? → How can I communicate my priorities clearly? Stop trying to balance daily. Start balancing over time. Your career won't collapse if you take your kid to the ER. Your family won't fall apart if you work late on a submission deadline. But you will fall apart trying to give 100% to everything, every single day. Balance isn't about the hours. It's about being fully present wherever you are. Who else is redefining "balance" in 2025? Drop "BALANCE" if you needed to hear this today. #WorkLifeBalance #ClinicalResearch #Leadership #MentalHealth #CareerGrowth #Parenting

Ever feel like you’re constantly choosing between work and personal commitments—and no matter what you choose, guilt follows? We hear so much about achieving “work-life balance,” but the reality isn’t that simple. Deadlines, last-minute changes, or a growing to-do list can quickly derail even the best-laid plans. You tell yourself you’ll make it to that dinner or event, but when the time comes, work wins again. Or you do make it, but you’re constantly thinking about the work you “should” be doing. It’s frustrating. You want to show up for the people and moments that matter, but you’re also juggling real responsibilities. And somehow, guilt sneaks in no matter which side you pick. So we are left chasing mythical “work-life balance.” I hate this phrase. I think it is problematic generally, but especially when applied to women and people socialized as women because it often reinforces stereotypes, creates unrealistic expectations, and oversimplifies complex realities. The phrase is often targeted at women because society traditionally views them as the primary caretakers of home and family. It reinforces the idea that women must shoulder the dual burden of excelling professionally while also managing most of the domestic and emotional labor—a standard not equally applied to men. And "balance" suggests that work and life can be perfectly aligned, which pretty much NEVER happens. And so for women who may face unique career barriers (e.g., the gender pay gap, lack of workplace flexibility, or limited access to leadership roles—issues that are far more pronounced for women with additional marginalized identities like women of color or women with disabilities or queer individuals), the pressure to "balance" can feel like an unattainable ideal that sets them up for guilt or self-criticism when they fall short. To me, it isn’t about finding the right balance. Whatever that means. It isn’t about managing your time perfectly to never disappoint anyone. (Impossible.) It’s about ditching both of those ideas and then working on defining your values for your life and making decisions based on those values. 💡 TELL ME: Do you know what your values are? If you look at how you spend your time, does it align with those values? If you haven’t ever done any values work, try this exercise: Go to https://lnkd.in/eCWKsAuW. Narrow this list down to three values. YES, YOU ONLY GET THREE. Define what each of those three values means to you. (This is important. Joy to you may mean something very different than it does to me. You need to know why you value the thing so it can aid in your decisionmaking.) Then, check in with yourself once a week to ask yourself three questions. First, what worked? Where did I show up aligned with these values? Second, what didn’t? Where did I not embody these? Third, what is one thing I want to do differently next week? 

I struggled with work/life balance throughout my career. This is because the world has set a clever, two-part trap for us. I will explain the trap and how to escape it. Part One – Our own goals and ambitions. I wanted to be successful, to get more pay, and to be a part of bigger decisions. If you follow me here, I bet you are the same. You want to “be the best” and have a great career. Part Two – Corporate pressure. Companies have a simple goal of making profits for shareholders. This is most easily done by getting more work from the same people. The Trap: The two parts converge to destroy work/life balance because our healthy desire to do good work, earn a living, and find meaning is easily manipulated by corporate systems designed to maximize profits. Here is how they do it: 1) Most companies give bigger raises to “better” performers. What is better? Usually, doing more work. Sometimes you can be “better” by being smarter or more efficient, but over time even the best of us usually work harder 2) Competition. Since raises and promotions are limited in number, there will always be someone else willing to put in very long hours to come out ahead of you. Some of you will recognize this as “the prisoner’s dilemma” – if only one person works harder, they will get a lot of advantages for only a little extra work. But, when we all strive to be first it becomes a maximum effort race with no winners. Ways to Escape the Trap: 1) Set limits. Recognize the trap and decide what you will and will not give to your work. This may mean accepting some career tradeoffs, but unless you set the limits your body will do it for you over time. It is better to make the choices yourself. 2) Seek work only you can do. We are all gifted at some things, and you get two benefits from focusing on your gifts. First, you can stay ahead of others with less effort. Second, it is more fun to do things that come easily. 3) Choose companies and bosses wisely. Some leaders push you into the trap, some leaders try to keep you out of it. Seek those that keep you out. 4) Work for yourself. If you can be your own boss you can escape the corporate side of profit maximization, or at least have it under your control. 5) Redefine success. There is nothing wrong with wanting pay, promotions, influence, etc. But if the cost gets too high, remember that plenty of people are happy without corporate success. My own path was to climb the ladder, make the money, and then step off. I sacrificed many good years to work and high stress in order to get a set of years without it. A good trade? Time will tell. Readers, what are some other ways to escape the trap?

Work-life balance isn’t a formula. It’s a feeling I once burned out while working part-time. On paper, I had balance. In reality, I was drowning. Because it’s not about hours. It’s about emotional alignment. Here’s what I’ve learned since: 1/ Stop copying someone else’s balance ↳ What works for them may break you. 2/ Check your energy, not your hours ↳ Pay attention to what drains vs. refuels you. 3/ Redefine productivity as sustainability ↳ Being “on” all the time isn’t success — it’s survival. 4/ Blend your life, don’t compartmentalize ↳ The lines are blurry, and that’s okay. 5/ Permission is powerful ↳ Give yourself grace to shift priorities. Balance is whatever makes you feel balanced. ❓What does balance look like for you this season? ♻️ Repost if balance means different things to different people. 👋 Follow me (Dr. Chris Mullen) to reshape how leadership really looks. Image credit: @saraharnoldhall