Stop trying to achieve work-life balance and youll actually get things done

Stop trying to achieve work-life balance and youll actually get things doneStop trying to achieve work-life balance and youll actually get things doneA recent article by Olga Khazan inThe Atlanticmakes the case for embracing work-life imbalance.Almost every ambitious professional wants to juggle their priorities effortlessly, and somehow this skill seems to elude us all.Khazan quotes Brad Stulberg, coauthor of The Passion Paradox, who recommends thinking of balance in terms of seasons, as opposed to hours in a day. There might be a season where youre writing a book, and thats the thing, Stulberg told The Atlantic. There might be a season when youre starting a family. The allocation of your time and attention will look lopsided - and maybe it has to, if you want to do a good job at any one thing.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreStulbergs insights recall time-management expert Lau ra Vanderkams musings on the 24-hour trap.The trap represents the idea that a work-life balance has to happen every day - that every 24 hours must be neatly divided between your professional responsibilities and everything else you care about. And its a trap because its virtually impossible for many people to achieve, especially parents who hold jobs outside the home.A better option, Vanderkam says, is to think in terms of 168 hours, or full weeks. Even if you cant fit in a full eight hours of work, two meals with your kids, and a date with your partnerevery single day, you can probably make time for everyone over the course ofseven days.Some high-earning women work shorter days for part of the week in order to spend time with their familyVanderkam is the author of multiple books on productivity and time management, including I Know How She Does It. In the book she writes that most people think of the week as Monday through midday Thursday. If they cant fit all their personal and p rofessional priorities into that time period, they feel like a terrible employee, a terrible parent, or a dysfunctional human being.Vanderkam urges readers to embrace Friday through Sunday as usable time, too. For one thing, you might want todo some work on the weekendsso you can leave the office at a reasonable hour during the week. Or it could simply mean seeing the hours you spend with your kids on Saturdays and Sundays as an investment in your family, instead of discounting them.Any given 24 hours might not be balanced, but the 168-hour week can be, Vanderkam writes.For the book, Vanderkam had dozens of high-earning womenkeep time logs, and she analyzed them for trends and surprises. Some women whose logs she analyzed deliberately worked long days part of the week and shorter days the rest of the week so they could be with their families.Perhaps the most important takeaway is that you canstillbe a good parent, or a good member of an organization, even if your days dont look bala nced in the traditional sense. So dont necessarily assume you cant pursue a career in consulting, for example, because it requires some travel and you have kids at home.With a little creativity, you can probably make it happen.This article originally appeared on Business Insider.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people