Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Toward a work-life compass: Work-life balance doesn’t exist

Christine J. Ko, MD
Physician
October 30, 2024
Share
Tweet
Share

A four-day workweek is being touted as better, especially for jobs that are cognitively oriented. The brain needs more time for rest and relaxation than a five-day workweek allows, so four days of work and three days for everything else will provide a work-life balance.

For more than two decades, particularly after I had my first child 17 years ago, I’ve been trying to achieve that elusive work-life balance. I used to be ashamed to have always fallen short, battling an internalized sense of inadequacy akin to impostor syndrome: an inchoate feeling that if I was “better,” “stronger,” or “smarter,” then balance would not be a mirage.

I’ve come to realize that work-life balance is a lie.

Work-life balance implies that there is a magic formula, a certain amount of time spent on work and each task that I need to do, in any given moment, hour, day, week, month, year, and so on. If I successfully spend just that amount of time, I will have enough time left over for everything else that pops up.

This is superhuman.

For one thing, we cannot always predict what is in store for us. I might think I have achieved balance, one that is ultimately precarious and too easily upended with one viral illness (or a worldwide pandemic like COVID), one argument with a friend (or a divorce), one extra last-minute meeting (or a promotion) (which should be a good thing, right?).

On top of that, the phrase “work-life balance” implies to me that work is on one side of the scale with the rest of life on the other. Yet each of us has only one life, and work is contained within that life. And for someone like me who has the privilege of working outside the home, work is something that I choose to do. For me, work creates meaning in my life. For me, then, “work-life balance” suggests that I am balancing a certain amount of meaning (work) with the rest of my life. For others, “work-life balance” might mean balancing work, which does not necessarily have meaning but pays the bills, with the obligations and pleasures of the rest of life – indeed, Tim Ferriss’ The Four-Hour Workweek maps out a plan for how we can all literally work just 4 hours and have 164 hours/week left over for living. Perhaps that sounds ideal to many, but for me as a physician, a four-hour workweek is not practical.

Viktor Frankl, in Man’s Search for Meaning, promotes that there is a Freudian will to pleasure, an Adlerian will to power, and his own will to meaning. For pleasure seekers, pleasure is supreme, and for those who find pleasure in work, just four hours of work might seem paltry. Pleasure seekers who do not enjoy work are in search of other sources of pleasure. For power seekers, and I would include my younger self in this category, power reigns supreme. Control and seeking achievement fall in this category of power; to me, inclusive of controlling time and the concept of “work-life balance.” Power can be found in grades and test scores, a desired school or job, or outcome. In contrast to a will to pleasure and will to power, which, according to Frankl, are ultimately empty shells, one’s will to meaning is what truly matters – how do you really want to spend your life? Meaning is only answerable by an individual. Each of us must find one’s own true north.

Meanwhile, there is “true north” and “magnetic north.” A compass is literally pulled by magnetic north, and to find true north, about 1200 miles of correction is necessary. Work, pleasure, or power often stand in as a reasonable magnetic north, but none of those things are true north. Moving toward true north requires self-reflecting and correcting toward what holds meaning for you.

Work-life balance does not exist, but a work-life compass is helpful to me as a powerful analogy for all that I can be distracted by and pulled toward, good and bad, potentially missing what is most meaningful or, conversely, getting quite close. I might lose my way for a bit, deliberately or due to some error, but I can always reset. I might move in various directions and know, ignore, or miss my true north.

Work-life balance will never become reality for me, but a work-life compass is something I can use.

Christine J. Ko is a dermatopathologist.

Prev

A surgeon's insight into the future of health care staffing [PODCAST]

October 29, 2024 Kevin 0
…
Next

What would we do if we weren’t doctors?

October 30, 2024 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Dermatology

Post navigation

< Previous Post
A surgeon's insight into the future of health care staffing [PODCAST]
Next Post >
What would we do if we weren’t doctors?

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Christine J. Ko, MD

  • It is literally possible to be a woman in medicine! We are doing it every day.

    Christine J. Ko, MD
  • Insider secrets: 10 must-know tips for mastering medical appointments

    Christine J. Ko, MD
  • Is there more to patient safety than preventing medical error?

    Christine J. Ko, MD

Related Posts

  • Ethical humanism: life after #medbikini and an approach to reimagining professionalism

    Jay Wong
  • The life cycle of medication consumption

    Fery Pashang, PharmD
  • How to balance confidence and humility online

    Brian A. Primack, MD, PhD
  • My first end-of-life conversation

    Shereen Jeyakumar
  • Are the life sciences the best premedical majors?

    Moses Anthony
  • My grandfather’s death: What I’ve learned about life

    Munera Ahmed

More in Physician

  • The truth about perfection and identity in health care

    Ryan Nadelson, MD
  • Civil discourse as a leadership competency: the case for curiosity in medicine

    All Levels Leadership
  • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

    Ralph Messo, DO
  • Why the heart of medicine is more than science

    Ryan Nadelson, MD
  • How Ukrainian doctors kept diabetes care alive during the war

    Dr. Daryna Bahriy
  • How women physicians can go from burnout to thriving

    Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within

      Kristen Cline, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
    • FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients

      GJ van Londen, MD | Meds
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • The truth about perfection and identity in health care

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician
    • Civil discourse as a leadership competency: the case for curiosity in medicine

      All Levels Leadership | Physician
    • Healing beyond the surface: Why proper chronic wound care matters

      Alvin May, MD | Conditions
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Dear July intern: It’s normal to feel clueless—here’s what matters

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Education
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within

      Kristen Cline, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
    • FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients

      GJ van Londen, MD | Meds
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • The truth about perfection and identity in health care

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician
    • Civil discourse as a leadership competency: the case for curiosity in medicine

      All Levels Leadership | Physician
    • Healing beyond the surface: Why proper chronic wound care matters

      Alvin May, MD | Conditions
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Dear July intern: It’s normal to feel clueless—here’s what matters

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Education
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...