Combine the best parts of your personal and professional life to live the life you really want
Balance is B.S. is an unflinching and honest look at the challenges today’s working woman faces in balancing her professional and personal lives. In the United States, women comprise over 40% of household income. Increased gender diversity in the modern business landscape continues to have a positive impact on bottom lines and revenue reports across the economy, and offers significant benefits for ambitious women in the workplace. This increase of women in the workforce does present a serious problem - women are working longer and harder outside of the home, but their workload has not lessened inside of the home. While their career prospects rise, expectations of their family and personal lives remain flat. Women pursue the mythical “work-life” balance, and feel guilty for not reaching it. There is a better way.
This insightful book provides working women with real-world advice, enabling them to blend their personal and professional lives, avoid burning out, and raise expectations of themselves and those around them. Every chapter presents practical exercises to identify values, and focus on what matters most. Following the path laid out by this essential guide, you will learn how to:
- Blend business and personal lives together without compromising your values
- Adjust expectations of yourself and others around you
- Use practical exercises and effective techniques to combine work, social, family, and parenting lives
- Stop feeling guilty about your work-life balance, and embrace the best parts of both
Balance is B.S. is an invaluable resource for working women regardless of profession, experience, and status. Author Tamara Loehr draws on her years of entrepreneurial success to share her proven methods of merging work, play, and family to map out and reach the life you actually want to live.
Table of Contents
Disclaimer ix
Acknowledgments xi
Part I Balance Is Bullshit
1 Rising without Compromising 3
2 The Myths That Keep Us Down 9
3 Balance Is Bullshit: Blend Instead 15
Part II A Workbook for Rising Women
4 “Moving Up” versus Rising: How to use this book to lift up every area of your life 21
5 V Squared: How to know your values and know your value 27
6 Vision Boards Are Bullshit: How to set effective goals 43
7 It’s All About the Journey: How and why to write your bucket list 55
Self
8 Filling Up Your Soul: How to stay stable and ride the roller coaster 61
9 Breaking Out of Your Bubble: How to keep growing into the person you want to be 89
Work
10 Choose Your Own Adventure: How to make career moves that match your values 97
11 Work-Life Blend: How to ditch balance and get people on board with blending 109
12 When Breadwinning Doesn’t Feel Like “Winning”: How to cope with pressure and keep your financial promises 123
Personal
13 “Thanks for asking”: How to name expectations, make agreements, and carry your own bags 135
14 “Mommy, don’t go!”: How to get over guilt and be the parent you want to be 149
15 The Business of Family: How to build culture and be a leader at home 173
16 Territory versus Tribe: How to foster friendships that bring out your best 185
17 Why Blending Matters: How to get laser focus to create your legacy 195
Part III Keep Blending for Life
18 Things to Do Because I Want To: Build your own blended life 211
Conclusion: What’s Next? 215
Index of Coaching Exercises 217
Index 219
