What’s the right balance between work and non-work time? The traditional 9-5 has slowly disappeared with the emails and zoom and texting going far beyond traditional business hours. We asked members of our community to share with us how they think about work-life balance.

Stephanie Savo | Licensed Mental Health Counselor

When I first started as a therapist I worked close to 50+ hours a week and had no self-care routine. I struggled to say no to colleagues and supervisors as well as clients. One of the things I strongly recommend to clients is having a good self-care routine and healthy boundaries so being able to practice that myself changed things. I’ve found having a routine that includes working out, spending time with family and friends, taking time off, and cutting back my hours have created a healthier balance. I think balance ebbs and flows at times but paying attention to what I need and want is key to creating it. Read more>>

Gizella Manzano | Owner & Makeup Artist

Work life balance… is that a real thing? Just kidding. When I first started my business I always put work over everything. I said yes yes yes to everything even though I was exhausted. I never said no because what is this one time I said no could have been a lost opportunity. Then came mom life…. put that into the mix and my priorities completely shifted. I didn’t want to miss out on moments with my son. He put my life into balance and made me appreciate the little things. Read more>>

Jenni Schwartz | Owner and Creative Director of Solmark Creative

Over time I’ve learned that work life balance has little do with the separation of of the two, and everything to do with finding what’s right for you. When I’m with my kids, I’m often thinking about work and when I’m working, I’m regularly thinking about my kids. And that’s totally OK! As an entrepreneur I rarely get to shut off. You’re always “on” in some way, shape or form. My work is important to me, and inspiration comes from so many different places, so who’s to say I can’t come up with a logo concept while giving my children a bath? In my world, balance is achieved by creating a big, blended, joyful life of work, family, play and self-care. It’s answering emails before the sun rises followed by morning breakfast (and lots of coffee) with family, followed by iPads for the kids while I have a meeting with my business partner, who also happens to be my husband. Read more>>

Ana Larrea-Albert | Author & Public Speaker

I believe the ideal of balancing is flawed. When you put work and life on each side of the scale, one side will invariably have more weight during different times of your life, and the other side will “loose”. They are being understood as opposites, as a zero sum game where one will unfailingly suffer. Aiming for a perfect balance sets us up for disillusionment. I have lived in severe imbalance at several times in my life and all it did was make me feel inadequate on every front. However, when we strive to integrate or bring our different pursuits, passions and responsibilities together, then we have a more realistic chance at finding peace and have kinder expectations for ourselves. If we picture our life as a very fluid Venn diagram where we incorporate all the parts of our life and identity, then it’s easier to see how the parts intersect and to aim at making the parts overlap more. Read more>>

Emmanuel Damian | CEO and Founder of The Tennis Foodie and Padama / Pharmacist / Scientist / Innovator / Tennis Player

I’m a very busy guy and it takes a lot of courage to multitask a lot of activities. What i usually do is to make a checklist and plot all my meetings in the calendar. In between, I would insert blogging and social media time during my breaks. I make sure I prioritize my work first before I go to social media. Engagements and events are usually scheduled at least one week prior. I always update my tracker to ensure I’m following my daily schedule. I remember last year, I started graduate school. I was juggling it with my full time work, blogging, personal and social time. It was so difficult but I managed to fit it all! I guess it’s all about time management and also prioritization. You need to know what really matters the most. Since I have more time now, I want to pick up more hobbies so I won’t get bored. Read more>>

Maria A. Petit | COACH – Wellness | Lifestyle | Performance

The word balance already creates duality a seesaw between two options which must be “Equalised”. In this case work versus play and relaxation. It already implies that the two cannot co-exist. The biggest shift in my life after leaving the corporate world was burying this idea. Our culture is so conditioned to this polarity. I call it the “Happy Hour” syndrome as if you have to wait until “Happy” Hour before you can express your joy and this idea that it should be limited to a specific time of the day. How absurd is that? Everything I do brings me immense joy and satisfaction otherwise I don’t do it. I work with brands and companies I love and and only take on coaching clients I also enjoy spending my time with. It’s an evaluation process I encourage coaching clients who reach out to me to undertake. Read more>>

Rick Harsch | Fiction writer and publisher

All work that can be expressed as one side of a dichotomy work/life is by definition against life. I’ve known that from an early age and striven to avoid doing any work I did not want to do. However, a prisoner in a monetary economy, and a writer of fiction at that, I have had to find ways to earn money. Throughout the balance has only changed according to circumstance. For instance when I worked as a security guard at a power plant my work and life were mostly one, as I had time to read and write on the job. As a taxi driver, I was virtually in a coma, as I was working to save money to take a break and write a novel. As a briefly successful novelist, I was able to survive on writing income for a few years. Now, whenever I am forced to work to make money, I am either back in a sort of coma, or simply a dullard. When I am free to write I am entirely alive. Read more>>

Amanda Keeley | Artist, Curator, Founder of EXILE Books

As I have gotten older, I have learned how important the life/work balance is. I never respected it, I never understood it. I went full force into everything and often just spun my wheels and exerted unnecessary energy. I guess that is the hazard of working in the NYC art world for 16 years! I am now in a place that I don’t need to prove anything to anyone. I choose my battles, I try to set boundaries, and I put my health and my family first. We are living together in a very tumultuous state~ between the toxic political environment and the pandemic, these are challenging times for us all. As women, I do believe we need to set the tone and stand together in solidarity. Read more>>