Listen to the Insight

Audio generated with Notebook LM

Work-life balance is one of those phrases that refuses to die, no matter how many times people admit it’s unattainable. At last week’s women in leadership event, I heard the familiar refrain: balance is a myth. A more accurate description is juggling—constantly shifting, dropping, and catching responsibilities in motion. But even that framing misses the point.

Balance assumes a static state—two sides of a scale in perfect harmony. Leadership and life don’t work that way. They move, stretch, and contract. My friend Audrey describes it as rhythm and flow, and I find that far more useful. Rhythm acknowledges seasons—times when work accelerates, times when personal obligations surge, and times when both collide. Flow recognizes that our capacity is not infinite and that sustainability comes from learning when to push and when to pause.

The danger of chasing balance is that it keeps leaders evaluating themselves against an impossible standard: Am I giving equal weight to all things at all times? That mindset produces guilt, exhaustion, and inauthentic leadership. Instead, leaders need to reframe their practice around alignment and intentionality. Alignment means your actions and commitments reflect your values and priorities, even when the distribution of time looks uneven. Intentionality means you decide what matters most in this season—not someone else, not a myth about balance.

A leader who understands rhythm and flow sets a different example. They acknowledge tradeoffs openly. They create space for teams to adjust without shame. They measure effectiveness not by how “balanced” everyone looks but by whether people are aligned, energized, and supported to do meaningful work.

Balance may be the wrong goal, but rhythm and flow? That is how we build lives and work that are sustainable, aligned, and real.

Take care,