If you are fortunate enough to wake up and rise from your bed each morning to begin processing and planning the many various personal and work related activities you need to accomplish for the day, then you are already blessed beyond your wildest dreams. Regardless of the type of work or job you have at any given time, in order to be fulfilled,  one must choose to have a love for work and recognize the opportunity it provides for us  to help create significance in the lives of others.  

Our culture has been slowly shifting away from the core principles and values that were once symbols of pride causing many to have lost sight of just how fortunate we are to simply have both the freedom and capability to “get up”  and play the role of contributor in the workforce. There are many less fortunate people all over the world who would embrace and cherish the so called struggle of work life balance, as they could articulate to many of us, what the word struggle really means.

So why is the work life balance debate such an ongoing topic in today’s culture? Perhaps a large part of this perceived problem is due to the continual societal fragmentation of our core culture. As humans, our natural intrinsic desire is one of a self serving nature, lending itself to an immediate gratification victim mindset mentality. Since when did working hard, or striving to do great things and pushing yourself  to achieve game changing outcomes become disassociated from life?  It was not to long ago that blood, sweat, tears, commitment, dedication, loyalty, perseverance and great accomplishments were just some of the many critical components of what we defined as a plentiful and joyous life.

The very origin of work comes from the book of Genesis and in the very beginning, the Bible clearly states that God worked for six days and on the seventh day, he rested. How is that for work life balance?  At that moment and time, God’s work took precedent so that he could produce the highest quality outcome for those his creation would benefit most – all of us..

• Imagine a culture that views work as vehicle to drive individual talents, creativity, and passions towards positively influencing the lives of others.
• Imagine looking at all the tasks you need to complete at work today and picturing how accomplishing these things to the best of your ability may have long term impact in the lives of your teammates and their families.
• Imagine if every time you felt the need to complain about the challenges presented in your careers or job, you paused – reset and moved forward with a perspective of grace and gratitude for the work and for those around you.

Our life’s work is just that, so let’s choose to live work in a way that helps others around us thrive in all we do.

Written by: Jay Hassell