Work-Life Balance vs Work-Life Integration
Hey, Hey, it is March 8, 2020. Happy International Women’s Day! 🙂
As someone who has lived in four different countries, Argentina, Uruguay, Italy, and the United States, I have earned the title of International Woman and today I celebrate my day! I want to honor all women especially teachers, authors, and nurses as their jobs day in and day out serving people is selfless and relentless. As a teacher, trainer, and coach it is my passion too and I want to honor you!
Women Have Purpose and Passion: Welcome Women to EFL!
Women have a purpose, we have passion, but can we also achieve work-life balance? I’m not sure about you, but when I think of the term BALANCE, I mentally picture a scale, with two equal amounts of weight that keeps it precisely even, in balance. While this works every time in my kitchen, for my recipes and my homemade food, it has NEVER worked the same way in my professional life as a working mother. So, I have come to dislike the expression altogether as I find it bookish and hypocritical, stereotypical hype used by HR departments to entice women to join a company with some perks to keep them there but for sure with NO work-life balance. She will faithfully, year after year, devote most of her day, that is 9-5, to a company that is not hers! Is this the so-called balance? Heck, NO!
Do you want to change this paradigm?: <==Contact Me Today==>
Change your Mindset One Book, One Training, One Podcast at a Time
Thanks to my fabulous coaches and their empowering training, I have come to realize that we, working women, and men for that matter, need to strive to accomplish work-life integration, not balance. This integration will NEVER be equal or fair or even. Our lives are too rich and challenging to be put on a scale! There were times in my life, especially when my daughters were very young, that I was working from home. I had the privilege of raising them in a beautiful town in the Sierras de Cordoba in Argentina, surrounded by mountains, rivers, and horses. What a life, what an upbringing in so much contact with nature. What a luxury that John and I will never forget. What nice memories we treasure from those 10 years. Did I make any money back then? NO, we were kind of financially tight living on my husband’s salary, but it was worth it. We had the freedom to choose, many don’t. They are trapped in the rat race.
Back then, John started saying to me: “Do you really want to go back to the States to the rat race?” So, in anticipation of this and to avoid it, as early as 2006, I started putting together my first websites, the first seeds for what we have today, a parent company embracing nine different brands. And each one of those serving a fabulous purpose. Stay tuned for more excitement as I cover each one of them in future posts.
Why is Work-Life Integration so Important?
Because it reflects our values, who we are as people, who we care about when others need us the most. Now, when my girls are 17 and 14 and we as a married couple became smarter and more efficient, I can work my day job as well as my business. Is this balanced? Heck, NO. I am spending more time working than with my family, but I spend quality time and enough time. My husband is covering for me. And this imbalance is perfectly balanced, perfectly calibrated by my business plan. It will pay off in a very short period of time so I can spend much more time with John and the girls later. We all four as a family are looking forward to having a much better and enjoyable future.
Climbing a Ladder or Building a Beautiful Mosaic?
I never liked the expressions climbing the corporate ladder or being a social climber. There is so much lack of authenticity in those concepts that really don’t get along with my personality type. So I have come to the conclusion I am not here to climb anything professionally, I am here to build. First and foremost, build me up from the inside out as no one can give what they don’t have. And then build projects that will build people up from the inside out.
Another concept that I find so interesting as an online entrepreneur is that in the old days the trend was to climb the corporate ladder in order to reach the top salary range. But now the trend is to diversify our portfolio in multiple projects that help us develop multiple income streams. It compares to building a beautiful mosaic where we put our area of expertise in the service of others. This business model fits me perfectly and there is no going back! 🙂
If you would like to discover your purpose in life, your dream online project and how to put it into action, visit my Digital Marketing page on my website and I will be happy to become your online project coach and help you reach your goals!
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Or scroll down to the Comment area and drop me a line here! I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
Paula Schmitz, M.Ed.
Wellness and Digital Marketing Coach
Wow, what passion and great information. I love that you explain things while you are full of energy. I too an online entrepreneur feeling my way through all this diversity.
You have outlined things very clearly and was a pleasure to read.
Thank you
Cheers
Jo
Hi JoAnne, Glad you liked my post. I spoke from my heart and my own experience. I want to empower women who might think they are done after raising their kids when in fact they are just getting started! Please visit my website where I explain Wealthy Affiliate, the platform I use to run my business online. And contact me if you have further questions. Thanks again for stopping by! Paula 🙂
Thank you, JoAnne! I love what I do. And now passionate about helping people to create sales funnels for their businesses, not just a website. Are you familiar with this type of software that builds funnels?
It is so good to see how women have come to the forefront and the great contribution they are making. this is not only a men’s world but there is a place that is for women that are making a great impact in helping to shape our world. Thank God for the many women out there who are taking a stand and finding their place in this world.
Thank you for your nice comment, Norman! You can always refer your wife, your sister or whoever you think might need my coaching! Please let them contact me here or on my digital marketing coaching site. Thanks again! Paula
Norman, You have put it beautifully, certainly we are on the same page. That was God’s plan from the very beginning. I don’t need to use pronouns to show I am a woman, by the way 🙂
Thanks so much for these valuable insights into work/life integration and balance. It is so important to balance things out and be grateful for the moment-to-moment goodness which exists in each of our lives. And yes, changing one’s mindset is a gradual process of feeding ourselves good info while letting go and forgetting the junk and limiting things we picked up along the way. All the Best, Joseph
WOW, Joseph! This is pure wisdom! You know, I had to hold the fort during these times with the pandemic and my teenage daughters at home but I am so grateful to God for keeping us healthy and enjoying working from home. Great work-life balance! 🙂