The Fallacy of the Work/Life Balance | Michael Walters | TEDxGustavusAdolphusCollege

Through his work, Walters challenges the status quo, inspires paradigm shifts in both business and individual lives, and mentors many young professionals all while sharing his passion and abilities to ideate, engage, lead change, and deliver measurable results.
Mr. Walters is the President of studio503, Vice President and National Account Director of the Coin-Tainer Company, and in 2013 became a member of the Board of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce in Minnesota (SACC-MN). Through his work, Walters challenges the status quo, inspires paradigm shifts in both business and individual lives, and mentors many young professionals all while sharing his passion and abilities to ideate, engage, lead change, and deliver measurable results.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@allisterbernal5954]

Moral of the story: corporations run your work, corporations run your life. Enjoy, guys!

[@JPalermo]

This is a good definition of not knowing what balance means

[@stemdan6270]

Proudly brought to you by the CEO and Shareholders Association of America

[@GoNzo4209]

Even a standard "9 to 5" is starting to go extinct. It's so normal for people to work 10-12 hours a day 5-6 days a week. So crazy

[@Keeplifesimple9]

@Nikolaij Brouiller THANK YOU. the "waking up" part desrcibes my anger atm, why dosent the world STAND UP and stop this nonsense. It's like everyone wants to live in this "modern society" more like laughable society. Im for UK if you are from another country, peace.

[@AKumar528]

@@Keeplifesimple9 we are trapped in consumerism. And govt is heavily funded by corporates. There's no guarantee in nature that things will be better, otherwise jungles will be best places to live.. We as a collective, need to promote anti capitalism and specially wealth inequality.. There's no magic bullet. Watch Robert Reich, he's very good on this

[@artravision]

There is truth in this for me. When I take a positive step in any area of my life I get past inertia and other parts of my life start to improve also. It is when I resent parts of my life that I get weighed down with negative energy.

[@luzzy.1889]

I'm a student watching this as a work assignment plz make it fun next time

[@stardustsarah]

Oh gosh same. Do you have any main points to help me out please?

[@janehanvey3457]

All of us live a multifaceted life. I like the his analogy and perspective: always choose positive action now over procrastination and life will provide better balance.

[@shilohartisan]

I watched this entire thing and yet by the end i still have to work [X] hours per day and sleep [Y] hours per day and i have [Z] hours per day for everything else. Since sleep can't really change much that means I have to decide where to put my time, Work, or everything else. Every minute I give to everything else takes a minute form work. Every minute I give to work takes from everything else. I feel like he didn't say a single thing that addressed any of this. 24 hours = [X] + [Y] + [Z] [Z] could be broken down into [A] + [B] + [C] + [D] + [E] + [F] + [G] + ..... But that isn't the point. Nor are we talking about making sure [X] = [Z] that's not what we mean by balance. If you're able to work 2 hours and have 14 for everything else then do that. Some of us have to work 10 hours and only have 6 for everything else. But most of us have some kind of choice of taking a little from one to give to the other and whether the ratio is 1:1 or 50:1 we still have to decide how to divide it up and that is what we mean by "balance" and this guy, again, said absolutely nothing pertinent to that very real dilemma we all face.

[@secondsandthings]

I think he's encouraging us to think about it broader, not in just hours worked but in terms of how work fits into life. If work is stressful, that impacts the quality time with family. Going broader, (reading/listening to books) could be part of a ball that is to do with hobbies, or could not relate to any of the other balls, in which case, maybe changing offices if possible. Too many hours, is it possible to reduce them? If you reduce the hours, does that mean you have less money to provide to the family, which in turn affects the family ball? That being said, I think a lot of people are not in a position to choose job conditions based on their life factors, and usually choose their life conditions based on work factors.

[@michellem4391]

ShilohandKimberly Jessop I think what he said was don’t stress about getting to everything at work. Think about what you want to do with your day overall- inclusive of your family or personal time then do it. Corporations always give you more work than you can handle- prioritize the most critical things you can do today with the time you allotted for the work day. The rest will be there tomorrow even if you missed the deadline. You’re not perfect but at least you got the most critical things done. That’s a step in the right direction. Then be present with your family during the time you allocated for them.

[@jashonbass8350]

I was scrolling the comments to see if anyone else was thinking the same thing. I think the suggestion he gives is helpful in a general sense but to me, it's not a solution to this problem we have as you've said

[@EmeliaSings]

The biggest takeaway from me, is momentum. Choosing to do what you know you should do today, instead of the easy path that you know will leave you with more work tomorrow. When you do one thing, you'll be more inclined to keep going on that good path in other areas of life. Keep that ball rolling in the direction you want. Every single choice you make, is basically you voting for the person you will become in the future. So, who do you want to be?

[@Mybusinessmylife-community]

What he is saying is basically correct, I just don't think he is explaining it sufficiently so that everyone here "get's it!" He is correct, work is a part of life, it is not separate from it. And that is why work/life balance is a fallacy. You can have life without work, but you certainly can't have work without life. It is ridiculous to try and separate them and try to balance them. Therefore I think the sealed bowl with the balls in it and them all moving in harmony and interacting with each other is a fair and accurate visual representation. And while there are many facets to our life, there are also many facets to our work, so saying that just one ping pong ball represents our work, as a whole, out of 50 or more others is not a good example. However, we do have nine primary areas in our life, and work is just one of them, so a bowl of nine balls rather than 50 or 100, whatever, would give a far better indication. And the general concept is that work/life balance, if it does exist, is all about time - shorter working hours, flexibility to structure work hours or location, work that doesn’t disrupt home life, ability to time-bank, and no overtime, etc. So that's great, we get home from work early and use that extra free time to catch up on more TV, get into play-station or some other "stress-free" endeavour. But is that REALLY creating more balance in your life??? Or more importantly, is it really improving your life and the life of your loved ones around you? But when you are looking at the larger glass ball, (our life as a whole) moving forward, you can see the energies, interaction and harmony generated between the seperate balls within it. Forget trying to measure and balance the time spent between activities, because "work life balance" wrongly focuses on time management. You will also never achieve a balanced life, it just can’t be done - nor should you want to if you want to move forward. Remember, the very first steps we take each and every day put us off balance. We cannot continue to move forward without first leaning into each step and putting ourselves off balance. Harmony focuses on energy management. It focuses on all nine areas of our life holistically, It is the use, flow and direction of that energy that allows us to step ahead. If you want more out of life, forget balance, look to the flow and harmony of your energies between all areas of your life and plan and adjust your life around them.

[@krushmut]

You did a way better job at explaining than this dude

[@kevincounselling]

Thanks bro. Do you have any resources on this Harmony and nine areas - I would love to read.

[@sazzadhossainshahan348]

So what are the nine areas?

[@nguyenthihuyentran5325]

I think you are right when u talked about energy management. Thank you. U help me understand more about this speech.

[@dreamingflurry2729]

Nah, life is separate from work (unless you are self-employed or able to set your own hours!) because you are "owned" by someone else during the work hours! That is not your time, that time belongs to your boss, who doesn't compensate you even half-way fairly (Note: I have no illusions that companies will ever pay what an employee is truly worth - they can't, because then there would be no profit, but what they are actually paying? That is in most cases PEANUTS! CRUMBS of the cake, not even a really tiny slice!)

[@kevinhatten33]

Here is the definition of balance - a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions. A good life balance doesn’t mean work doesn’t exist, it means understanding which is more important and being able to manage both, but give your energy to having a life outside of your job.

[@appollo1826]

The same b.s. lazy generations spew to stay fickle in their domain they call life. Work is part of life, if you weren't doing it, where would be the balance. Separating these factors is what makes your life difficult. The reason most people need this is because they dont truly like what they do and so they separate their work/life because it makes them sane. Well, it's your fault.

[@shanesorensen7878]

He's actually wrong about work life balance. Working long hours and sending emails after work is actually been shown to be unhealthy. I think that spending time with family is important and having personal time.

[@michaellusardi5787]

Shane Sorensen Exactly. Ask Elon Musk how emailing after work hours worked for him.

[@cassieoz1702]

I think you missed his point

[@purplepepper2503]

@@cassieoz1702 Exactly, Shane is talking about a 'backwards step'

[@jw1313]

This guy was hired by some corporate overlord to persuade people to keep working no matter what. Plot twist: this is a Walmart employee convention

[@stevengriffith436]

If you only new. I went to high school with him and was his neighbor for a while. He grew up in a big fancy house..js

[@anikets4699]

​@@stevengriffith436 that explains a lot!

[@Myviewing]

I believe that I get what he is saying and I enjoyed this talk and watched it more than once. I found it helpful and insightful. It is a flawed economic system we live in with a 40 hour work week plus commute, often for little money (something he failed to mention in his talk here), but our personal fulfillment won't come from scapegoating work. Our need to blame work comes from our need to blame, and that would be present even if we had no work. I think he is saying that the holistic approach is about being mindful with your life. Being present in each moment and letting all your life (even work) feed you, give to you, fill you and to be honest when it does not but to still remain connected. If you need to blame that will affect all your life, if you can be the type of person to derive enjoyment from life than that will affect all your life. I think he is saying to learn to manage your own energy and thoughts and not be thrown into the sea of the whims of negativity and blame, even if those those around us in the workplace or in our relationships do this. From this place of mindful acceptance and inner contentment with our life as it is, we can than make steps towards the life we want and the person we want to be. But to have the life we want and to be the person we want to be, we first have to accept what is so we can become the type of person to make purposeful choices one step at a time to gain the momentum to make the future more of what we want.

[@dijviddijvid]

Even though it has a strong mind, a donkey's back gets broken when the load on its back is too heavy.

[@cynthiamarquez3370]

A shorter work week would be better. Think how much easier life would be with a standard 32 hour week

[@mamazelle]

A work-life balance to me means performing well at work, enjoying it and going home and spending quality time.

[@joefrederick6471]

If you look for balance you will get it whenever you are in life. If you choose work life balance you choose to stay in the situation you are in because everything will find its equilibrium at any given point. So I’d you choose work life balance, expect to stay where you are. I say this with the experience of working extremely hard and sacrificing for many years then I sought this work life balance and I ended up in stagnation - income, position and just about everything. If you want a better life go get it. And remember that this balance can be had anytime which is what I found out as it found me at a time when I had gotten to a fairly respectable level with income and career. So you can enjoy the balance later which is probably better anyway since it will be at a higher level. I have since started my own company and decided it’s time to move the needle one more time in a big way then, hopefully the balance will happen and I can spend the time after enjoying things more. Best wishes all.

[@Abaleth]

An incongruous, illogical and dangerous bit of nonsense. There's a false equivalence drawn right at the beginning between ones duty to ones spouse, one's children and one's job. A spouse or children are attached to a person by bonds of love and are rightly regarded as inherently valuable things in a person's life. A job is a monetary contract between person and employer, although loyalty between employee and employer can be good and rewarding, the level of duty isn't there. They are *not* the same category of thing. It uses this assertion to suggest that if you criticise your job, and get rid of it, you'll do it to everything in your life. Even if the assertion that job was like marriage and children were true, this wouldn't follow; not every divorcee hates their kids. The first statement isn't true though, and so it's revealed as a rather shaky bit of alarmist, which claims that if you criticise your employer, you're in danger of destroying your life. Not true, a wise person looks at their employer honestly, and if they're not good, they change job. It then moves to an idea of "whatever the hour, do the work, things will get better". This just isn't necessarily true. If an employee is in an exploited situation, showing willingness to do things outside of the reasonable, will only encourage their exploiter. Even in non-exploitative, good jobs, working really hard may well result in promotion, more money, and more responsibility. That can be a really good thing, and can be the basis for an entire worthwhile life. However, there isn't some automatic harmony where this works well with other parts of life. If you're in the office, you're not at home. If you're checking emails every 3 minutes, you're not focusing on your kid's school play; if you have to take a conference call at 11pm you're probably not really enjoying your 10th wedding anniversary. It's good when employers allow flexibility for workers' lives, and sometimes its necessary to miss a bit of outside life to ensure work's okay. However, this talk isn't suggesting an alternative to work-life balance. This talk is asserting the absolute goodness of work, trying to scare the life out of anyone who criticises it, and then suggesting that anybody who ever doesn't want to work at some point is doing something morally wrong. It's dishonest, scaremongering, corporate propaganda.

[@TaraWagner]

I appreciate his viewpoint. It's nice to have a new visual to this conversation. It's also good to see men talking about it instead of just women. 😂

[@kreassiva9138]

This is 100% true, as a Health Engineer the main problem with public health is people thinking they can eat unhealthy because they work hard, or have a lotnof responsabilities.

[@joecho1427]

Balance is the answer.

[@mickadatwist1620]

he must be an employer and not an employee

[@LIVdaBrand]

Micka Datwist faaaacts🐸☕️

[@seanuptown3222]

This guy lost my interest when he picked up the 2nd ball

[@passingby1350]

Sure he isn't as lively but the message he's getting across is a rather meaningful one

[@lyricishaan2880]

A tip: watch movies on flixzone. I've been using it for watching loads of movies lately.

[@mauriciowatson9624]

@Lyric Ishaan Yup, I have been watching on flixzone} for since november myself :D

[@raulcrew5116]

@Lyric Ishaan yea, I've been using Flixzone} for years myself =)

[@Subrosathefirst]

Whilst I think there’s useful advice towards the end re momentum and his viewpoint on life as an interconnected whole is unarguably valid, for me his explanation undermines the reality that people often are genuinely too busy to be fully healthy, often with employers who profit from values adverse to the spirit of life, and that a better balance of time spent in various things is possible. He seems like a secret (perhaps even to himself) advocate for the form of extreme capitalism we find ourselves in. ‘Carry on Regardless’... er... excuse me Sir, we seem to have a planetary ecosystem to urgently save!

[@tomcata1467]

It's a big fallacy, for people are working longer and longer hours, at greater productivity, sometimes working several jobs rather than one, which results in bigger profits for the corporation, and top executives who siphon large bonuses at the expense of lower wages for the grunts, and when the grunts age, and are older, the company gets rid of them and hires younger, works for even less. No more gold watches or 20 defined pensions. When the corporation is done with you you are on your own. They call it personal responsibility.

[@RadhaKrishnaMolluruCoach]

In traditional Indian life-style, work has always been a part of life, a healthy part, of-course..

[@chynna_url]

Great video.

[@prashantnayak9535]

Everything is connected....👍

[@great567]

Balls Deep

[@ThePedro1233]

I enjoyed this talk

[@mrpeace7708]

There's a reason why this hasn't got many views. I understand the basic premise, but this really wasn't well said. Here's my take: "work life balance" shoudnt really be seperate. People tend NOT to coin the phrase "relationship life balance" or "healthy eating life balance"........it doesnt make sense to seperate it. What would make more sense is to simply focus on the word BALANCE. We need to all focus on our NEEDS more than anything else. For example, sleep, relationships, belonging shelter, warmth. focus on the basics. Instead of asking ourselves: "do i need a better work life balance?"; the question should be instead "how can i make my life more balanced?" some other questions which might lead from this: "am i really happy in my relationship?" ... "does my job really fulfil me?" This type of critical thinking is important because LIFE IS TOO SHORT. ... bottom line: you need to approach this issue of "work-life balance" very carefully.

[@crucialhabitsforlife]

You can have an impactful career and a joyous personal life if you set your life and brain up effectively.

[@indonesianfamilymatters]

Nice perspective, Work Life Balance is important..

[@IgorRyltsev]

Topic is do not balance, work is more important. You are still stuck mate.

[@bkkersey93]

IgorRyltsev You're trolling right?

[@mmmohhh8567]

@@bkkersey93 hes got insecurity/loss of self issues with himself.hence his need to do that.

[@passingby1350]

I don't think that's the topic mate

[@yomsha]

Nice perspective Now, who's gonna clean up this mess on the floor? 😂

[@DanTheManIOM]

I listed all the things to get done, and scaled them, important (1-5) and urgent (1-10) and when I wanted to get it done (10 today, 6 this week, 3 this month) and then filtered, the highest things were identified and that helps reduce stress and also allows you to go after the biggest stressor...and you start that like he says, just do one thing to complete that stressor item...

[@fancoisbenta]

Ever things are vibration, energies therefore we need to found our balance to create a result consistently 😀😁

[@johnnytocino9313]

In the ancient mystery school some folks divided the 24 hour day into 3 eaqual parts. Sleep, work, self-improvement/culture/family time. This is thousands of years old. It's an ideal obviously but it's obvious it takes a life of balance. If one part takes more time in a day the other two suffer.

[@dzecka]

Hello there! Nice Channel

[@LIVdaBrand]

dying from a job isn’t worth it. Health is the true measure of what is working and what isn’t. Move to europe-america is only 243 next month.

[@waywellmusic]

Curious to know about any entrepreneurs here that struggle with stress. I'm a big believer of self care and would love to know more about what causes your stress for my research. As an entrepreneur, what are the 2 main issues you are facing with stress? Regarding stress, what do you want more than anything else? Looking forward to hearing your answers, thanks in advance and very grateful for any help!

[@Simon-cv7iq]

Hi Waywell! Interesting question and an important one For me: 1. Neck tension and skin irritation 2. I wish I had lot more clarity around the steps that I have to take with my business to get to the point where I want to be plus I wish more than anything that the stress don’t take away quality time with friends and family Hope you find it helpful 😊

[@waywellmusic]

@@Simon-cv7iq Thanks for the response Simon, interesting points. Can be super challenging when you have so much stress and it affects the time spent with loved ones. Feel free to get me on Facebook - Harry Waywell. I post lots about stress reduction there and would be good to connect.

[@Simon-cv7iq]

Waywell absolutely I will add you 🙏🙌

[@karengriffith814]

KLMGriffith If you don't read too much into it, it makes perfect sense. Don't sweat the small stuff, stay focused and keep pressing on. Period.

[@bertypuspita2852]

He woke up 30min before presentation and arrived at ted 5 minutes before the show As a result..he has a legendary hairstyle 😅

[@NewToTheLyte]

I think I get what hes saying, I just dont think it was communicated well. Maybe the title needs to be changed. This talk deals more with the tendency of laying the blame of your unhappiness on work, but really the unhappiness is within. Stop searching for a problem, instead accept your life for what it is and work on improving it little by little.

[@JamesClarkToxic]

I got the vibe that he wants company executives to hire him to convince employees that long hours won't negatively affect their lives. True balance shouldn't really be the goal. You should strive to give each part of your life the attention it needs to thrive. Sometimes that requires more time, sometimes that requires changing how you interact with a part of your life (two hours of watching tv with your kids does not equal two hours of walking through the park and talking).

[@BryanVandrovec]

WTF is he even talking about? There’s a huge difference between owning your time and being on someone else’s clock. The balls may be interconnected, but when push comes to shove, they are not created equal. The main challenge many people have in life is how set boundaries. Enough is enough.

[@Forschergeist1]

The fallacy of your talk - two misconceptions: 1. The work ball is way too small - how long do you work each day? Only 8 hours? Great! That's half of your awake time per day - the other half is split up between kids, wife, eating, education, shopping and your own "pleasure" - doesn't seem that your work ball is as big as your other balls - that's unbalanced. 2. That if you would reduce the work ball (remember at least half of your awake time!) you would not just take the big ball in the middle and be in balance - but that you would take the wife ball out, and then the "grocery shopping" ball, and then the "eating" ball - doesn't seem very convincing to me.

[@vailbaumer9513]

I see his point - you need to remove the idea of balancing life as a zero sum game. Saying I need to take X time away from my family to spend X more time at work limits your potential. If you look at life as one ball, the X amount of time you are overloaded gets subtracted from everything equally, so you aren’t intentionally de-prioritizing one of the many things you care about. Overtime, you get better at managing all these aspects at once without having to drop a ball. The caveat being many people don’t have the luxury of having a job that allows them to be flexible in this way.

[@MrNombreFacil]

I didn't get his point.. it was like stop trying to get to the root cause, just go with it.. I think that is a terrible advice

[@MarkusEhringer]

I agree and disagree. First of all I agree: don't try to disconnect work from life, as work is part of life. A better wording would be work - none-work - balance. Only because we intellectually put things on a scale and "balance" them, doesn't necessarily mean there not connected any more. On the contrary - extremes are cause to each other: good vs. bad, light vs dark, ... of course those are connected. Moreover, I think we often have a false concept of balance. A usual scale to weight some goods is in balance if the weight on the right side equals the weight on the left side. However, that is only the physical definition of balance. We're talking about balance in far more abstract scenarios. And therefore a scale must not be 50/50 to be balance. It very likely might be in balance with 70/30 - 70% none-work, 30% work - and that might just be for Person A. Person B has another definition of balance for that aspect of life. => Balance is very subject-dependent and individual.

[@dreamingflurry2729]

Shame on you TED for letting this corporate shill/slaver (that is my honest oppinion of that guy! He is a slaver without a whip - he uses financial pressure instead, which is just as bad because being whipped hurts for a short time, being abused mentally via financial pressure? That can in some cases last a lifetime!) on! Blergh! Makes me want to puke!

[@samridhisalhotra6174]

Woah

[@heidik1757]

Sounds pretty helpful

[@sfrancoc]

I think am ready for my ted talk on gibberish and rolling the perfect blunt. This guy really lost me when he started picking balls out

[@nextbestthingrc7446]

I disagree with this guy. My “work life” is a bowling ball and my “personal life” is a ping pong ball.

[@robsmith0929]

Absolutely useless. Spoken like someone who is in full control of their personal schedule - can work as much or less as they want.

[@matc8085]

This doesn't make sense

[@NRev-oc7kk]

This guy seems out of touch with reality. He must be living in a different world were work is just equivalent to one pingpong ball. 🤔

[@stevengriffith436]

If you only new I went to high school with him. He grew up in a big fancy house..js

[@kiranm6749]

Society will only respect u if u have job and an earning ... Even ur parents... And spouses.. no earning no respect..

[@Momo_Mo781]

Momentum= progress then you stop focusing on balance (stationery) because you're progressing (forward movement). This is the golden ticket 🎟️🎟️

[@bitsbard]

You're looking at worthwhile information. A like-minded book is suggested if you wish to explore further. "Dominating Your Clock: Strategies for Professional and Personal Success" by Anthony Rivers

[@kanishkaxagarwal]

Another rich dude asking people to sacrifice their life to work more to make the rich richer

[@stevengriffith436]

If you only new I went to high school with him. Js

[@harpreetrakhra1208]

nice use of balls but the work ball can't be so small.

[@jaguarandi2]

I'm not following.

[@CWYCharles]

His hair is messy. He is still struggling to make time to style his hair.

[@risefm001]

I guess I didn’t get the point of the balls…

[@kingaha3657]

Wow I cannot believe the ignorance in these comments! No one must be commenting for these guys to be the majority.