b'LIFE MANAGEMENTTHE BALANCE TRAP: WHY LIFE SHOULDNT COMPETE WITH WORKBy: Ray Gage, Founder of UntappedY ouve been lied to. hack.But heres the reality: when life becomes what It was wrapped in buzzwords.happens in between your work, youve already lost Sold as a productivitythe balance youre trying to achieve.Endorsed by HR, TED Talks, andIs life something that happens while you are doing time management gurus alike. work, or is work something that happens while you Its called work-life balanceand itare doing life? Start with Stop, Chapter 1doesnt exist. The Pandemic Pulled Back the CurtainNot in the way youve been told to chase it. When COVID-19 upended daily routines, it also You dont need more time. You dont need a betterexposed the fragility of the work-life myth. As people app. You dont need a fourth color-coded calendarwere forced to work from home, the illusion that that syncs across your devices. these two aspects of life could be neatly divided You need a reframe. shattered. People didnt resist going back to the officebecausetheywerelazy.Theyresisted The idea of work-life balance is built on a falsebecause,forthefirsttime,theyexperienced premise:thatworkandlifearetwoopposingsomething different: life-first living.forces to be managed, as if youre standing onIt wasnt about convenience. It was about clarity.a teeter-totter, trying to keep both sides perfectlyThe kind of clarity that makes you ask: What am level. Thats not balance. Thats stress disguisedI really doing all this for?as strategy.And nowhere is this more obvious than in industriesA Personal Reality Checklike constructionwhere long hours, relentlessWhen my oldest son was diagnosed with non-schedules, and high demands are often treatedHodgkinsLymphomaasahighschooljunior, as a badge of honor. balance wasnt something I had time to think about.10 www.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer'