The CEO of Your Own Life: Mastering Work/Life Balance

Who gets to decide how you use your time? Who determines the balance between short-term gain and long-term sustainability? Who strategizes about your career growth so that you can live the richest and most meaningful life possible? Who sets the right balance of monetary compensation compared to other values in your life?

You do.

If you work for a salary, your manager and boss will happily take as much time from you as they possibly can, potentially burning you out to the point where your personal relationships suffer and you're operating as a shell of your younger self. But they simply can't take that much from you; you have to give it to them.

This is something I thought about a decade ago when I was still processing the life changes that come early in your parenthood journey. Suddenly, the burden of keeping this new life alive, fed, and happy comes at odds with the demands of progressing in your career and your other financial ambitions that demand at least 8 hours per day. Then throw in the realities of maintaining a healthy body, pursuing hobbies that stoke curiosity, and building friendships that will hopefully see you through many phases of life, and you quickly realize that there simply isn't enough of you to go around.

Around that time, I read about a CEO (then of EA, if I recall correctly) who blocks out two hours per day at lunchtime to work out. I remember thinking, "Wow, I wish I was a CEO and could have control of my schedule like that."

And that's when my life mantra came to me: I am the CEO of my own life.

Hours spent working at your desk is just one factor among many that need to be balanced. As long as you communicate effectively at work, deliver on your commitments, and generally are pleasant to get along with, you have far more flexibility and agency to strategically shape how you spend the hours of your day. You can decide that a healthy body will allow you to work harder and longer, even if that means working less in the short term. As CEO, it's up to you to strategize and maintain the vision for your organization (your life). It's time to stop letting other people make those decisions for you.

If you truly stepped into the responsibility of managing your own life, what would you change? Find me on Threads and let's continue the conversation.