#work-life-balance

#work-life-balance

Courtney El Refai may call Sweden home, but every six weeks the 32-year-old commutes some 5,300 miles away to work at a San Francisco hospital as a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurse. While some may call it crazy, El Refai said it's all worth it for her dream job. Making over $100 an hour on a per diem schedule, she only has to work four, eight-hour shifts every four weeks.

After Los Angeles native Aaron Leshtz earned his degree in architecture from the University of Southern California, he accepted a position at Studio Sofield in New York City. It was more than a job, but a pivotal period that left a lasting impression. "Stylistically it was very different from what I had done before or even studied in school," says Leshtz. "The work was varied, thoughtful, and always emphasized craft and materiality over anything else."

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Dana Schoolsky, a 24-year-old working in monetization strategy and operations at TikTok in New York City. It's been edited for length and clarity. When I worked in investment banking as an analyst, everything felt urgent, as if a fire alarm was going off at all times. I felt on edge even after leaving the office, never knowing when I might be called to action to do more work, which took a toll on me.

Between teaching MBA students and speaking to a lot of business audiences, I'm often interacting with successful people who work extremely long hours. It's common for me to hear about 13-hour workdays and seven-day workweeks, with few or no vacations. What I see among many of those I encounter is workaholism, a pathology characterized by continuing to work during discretionary time, thinking about work all the time, and pursuing job tasks well beyond what's required to meet any need.

"I just used to completely sacrifice myself for whatever the thing was I was trying to achieve," Watson said on an Episode of "On Purpose" by Jay Shetty yesterday. "Making films, the hours on them are so demanding, that to have your own life alongside that, to have that balance is almost impossible," the star with an estimated $85 million net worth added.

For repetitive tasks or errands, it makes sense for some people to hire a helping hand for the price of $50 or $60 an hour-or even cheaper if you enlist the services of AI. And while there's only so much someone who isn't employed by your company can do for you when it comes to work matters, there's still plenty they can do otherwise that could help your work-life balance.

Millennials and Gen Z are poised to rise in the ranks, however much of the business canon and available literature offers advice from an irrelevant world-a world before hybrid offices, social media, and kiss cams at Coldplay concerts. Leaders are navigating digital and IRL (in real life) challenges where the older generations' leadership styles are incongruous with the current moment's needs.

"Oh, for sure," adding, "I'm exhausted. I'm completely wrung-out and tired."

In 2017, I gave birth to my son, and also a midlife crisis. Suddenly, my two-hour commute from our home in New York City to my job as an economist at the University of Pennsylvania went from inconvenient but sustainable to the bane of my existence. And my marriage, which had seemed flawed but in a cute, work-in-progress kind of way, suddenly seemed to be falling apart at the seams.

As more professionals refuse to choose between career success and family time, a new playbook for balance is reshaping modern work-life culture. Balancing a career and a bustling family life is a modern juggling act. There's a constant pull between professional ambitions and the desire to be present for the people who matter most. Yet, with a little creativity and a lot of grace, it's not an impossible feat. You can make it work.

Not all careers come with tight deadlines, loud offices, or high-stakes decisions.

Now, Honig is bringing her innovation-first mindset to Samsung in the newly created role that puts her at the helm of the tech giant's customer experience and AI transformation. Her remit? Help customers understand how they can use AI more day-to-day. "I believe we are going through the most exciting phases of change in our history," she adds. "The AI revolution is one of the most important technological shifts we'll experience in our lifetime."

My wife works two days a week, one weekend day and one weekday, while I work full time making the large majority of our income. Her job is very important (medical field), and she is a great mom, does a ton of housework, and is all around a wonderful person. I'm fully taking all of that into account when I vent here,

These days, we hear much said on social media - sure­ly too much - in favor of the "hus­tle cul­ture" and the "grind mind­set" (or, abbre­vi­at­ed for max­i­mum effi­cien­cy, the "grind­set"). Ded­i­ca­tion to your work is to be admired, pro­vid­ed that the work itself is of val­ue, but the more of a day's hours you devote to it, the like­li­er returns are to dimin­ish.

I love work. I love working late nights, hacking on things. This week I didn't go to sleep before midnight once. And yet... I also love my wife and kids. I love long walks, contemplating life over good coffee, and deep, meaningful conversations. None of this would be possible if my life was defined by 12 hour days, six days a week. More importantly, a successful company is not a sprint, it's a marathon.

About a month later, Ben received a call from an old colleague about a work opportunity at a pizza-and-wine bar in Tylösand, a beach town on Sweden's west coast. As a chef, the experience sounded exciting to him, and we also saw this as our opportunity to try somewhere new. That's why, weeks later, we found ourselves vacuum-sealing most of our clothes, giving away what we didn't need, and subletting our apartment - not knowing how long we'd be abroad.

Among the top 10 countries whose people travel the most, Finland ranked third globally for traveling internationally, with each person averaging 1.7 trips annually. In terms of domestic travel, Finland came in second place behind the U.S., averaging 5.8 domestic trips per person. The combined number of domestic and international trips per person put Finland in first place globally as the country with the most frequent travelers per capita.

Get that pit in your stomach on a Sunday evening as work approaches and the weekend ends? It doesn't have to be that way. Here, business leader Mark Price reveals six tips to improve your working week

As a newlywed in my 20s, I knew I wanted a big family. Yet, my husband and I agreed to put off having kids. Like many prospective parents, we wanted to establish our careers and build a nest egg. However, the biggest reason I put off having children was that I wanted to continue traveling. I was afraid I would need to stop traveling once I had children

CEOs like OpenAI's Sam Altman have recently shared what TV shows their watching. Mike Wirth of Chevron shared his thoughts about the Paramount+ series "Landman" in February. Here's what TV shows CEOs say they are into these days.

Happiness is really all about the business of life. Your life is like a startup business, and you should manage it as such. You're the founder, and you need to be able to take risks and know what the currency is of the fortune you're trying to accumulate. The Happiness Files shows how to become more successful in getting what you truly want by seeing your life in this way.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, work-life balance has rocketed ahead of earning potential as a priority for most citizens. The advent of remote working, while convenient, has also eroded traditional boundaries for work-life balance. However, countries like New Zealand still prioritise a positive work-life balance, and it's paying off. In 2025, the antipodean nation topped Remote's Global Life Work Balance Index for the third year in a row, reports BusinessTech.

Text description provided by the architects. 3dor office symbolizes the harmonious integration of a mixed-use building situated in a semi-urban locality surrounded by lush greenery on one side. The project strives to have a complete public character to the office and to have maximum privacy for the residential spaces, as well as to have a connection for both the functions, which would symbolize the work-life balance of a person.

Assuming 52 weeks a year, working 2400 hours means working over 46 hours a week, week in and week out. That's a little over 9 hours a day assuming a five-day week. I know, what big law associate works 5 days a week? At 6 days a week, your daily grind is manageable 7.6 hours a day. Of course, that means working what most people would consider a full day every single Saturday.

Most entrepreneurs have a business plan. We write it, follow it... and slowly that business grows until it consumes our lives. Suddenly, the company dictates the calendar, family trips are canceled for "urgent" calls and personal decisions take a back seat. I've had countless closed-door conversations with entrepreneurs who, from the outside, seem to have it all, but in private admit that they hate their company and think they are a prisoner.