Real Men Don’t Try for Work Life Balance

A new study on the work-life conflict
by the Families and Work Institute shows that 60% of men are feeling extreme stress from trying to balance their personal and professional lives.

In fact, more men now experience work-life conflict than women!

Isn’t that a startling revelation?

The blurry worry

They’re feeling what we call “the blurry worry.” Our roles and our worlds have both been blurred.

In ancient times, men hunted while women gathered. In more modern times, men provided; women cared.

Now, both sexes do all of the above. The roles have been blurred.

And our personal and professional worlds are blurry as well. Technology is making us accessible at all times to everyone on either side of our lives.

Real men

So what is a man to do?

BIGG success is life on your own terms. Real men today want BIGG success throughout their life – in their careers and as a breadwinner, husband, father, son, friend, etc.

But they are increasingly frustrated because society crams an old paradigm down their throats: work-life balance.

So real men view their life as a system. Sure, the system has its components, but they are all part of one life.

Real men don’t buy in to work-life balance. It doesn’t work in an age of dual income couples, raising kids while caring for parents, increasing demands at work and home, and technology that puts us in touch 24/7.

Instead, they seek life sync. Sync means harmony, “a pleasing combination of elements in a whole” according to The Free Dictionary. Real men create life sync through discovery, design, and development.

• Discovery
  

  Discovery starts with you. It begins internally before reaching out to other people. What do you want your life to look like? What’s your vision? What’s most important to you?
  

  Once you determine what you want, it’s time for conversations. But not just conversations – conversations with a purpose.
  

  Find what is expected of you at home and work. Go beyond expected to what is hoped for.
  

  Share your vision and values with the people closest to you. Find common ground.
  

• Design
  

  Now you know what you want and what the most important people in your life want. It’s time for design.
  

  You want to design the life that fits you perfectly. It meets the needs and wants of the people who matter at work and at home.
  

  Once you think you have the right design, you’re ready for more conversations with a purpose. Get feedback from the people who will be affected by your design.
  

• Development
  

  You think you have the ideal design. The key term in that last sentence is “think”.
  

  It’s time to build your life. This isn’t like building a building. It’s like building a business.
  

  That’s the reason we don’t say you’re the architect of your life. We believe you’re the entrepreneur of your life; building a life is more like building a business.
  

  So you start by testing. Test an idea. See if it brings you more harmony throughout your whole life.
  

  If it does, keep doing it. If it doesn’t, try something else.
  

  Keep testing to build the life that fits you perfectly. That’s BIGG success for real men (and women)!
  

Image in this post from ba1969