How to Integrate Work with Life

How do you feel about the phrase “work/life balance”? Is it a concept you’re passionate about and constantly striving to achieve?

Or are you over it? maybe balance a seems perpetually out of reach, like eating cauliflower crust pizza and pretending it tastes like pizza.

Let’s face it: work/life balance has become a goal for so many of us, but the reality is it’s often frustrating and elusive.

That’s why today, we’re diving into work/life integration.

But before I dig in,  if you are the type of woman who prefers an upper lip wax appointment to the start of a work week, then check out my free training on lizmayercoaching.com. This free training will teach you the key ingredients to having success and fulfillment, and what that means is you will experience a more integrated life without adding more to your already busy schedule. If success and fulfillment is important to you head over to lizmayercoaching.com and check it out.

Okay, back to it… Work life integration isn't a buzzword like "mid" "sigma" "rizz" "skibbidy" or anything else that comes out of my tweens mouths. Work life integration it’s a mindset shift. One that could help you create a healthier, happier life.

In this blog I will review:

Work/Life Balance: A Brief History & Why It Falls Short

Work/Life Integration: The Solution

Practical Steps to Activate Work/Life Integration

How do you feel about the phrase “work/life balance”? Is it a concept you’re passionate about and constantly striving to achieve?

Or are you over it? maybe balance a seems perpetually out of reach, like eating cauliflower crust pizza and pretending it tastes like pizza.

Let’s face it: work/life balance has become a goal for so many of us, but the reality is it’s often frustrating and elusive.

That’s why today, we’re diving into work/life integration. But before I dig in,  if you are the type of woman who prefers an upper lip wax appointment to the start of a work week, then check out my free training on lizmayercoaching.com. This free training will teach you the key ingredients to having success and fulfillment, and what that means is you will experience a more integrated life without adding more to your already busy schedule. If success and fulfillment is important to you head over to lizmayercoaching.com and check it out.

Okay, back to it… Work life integration isn't a buzzword like "mid" "sigma" "rizz" "skibbidy" or anything else that comes out of my tweens mouths. Work life integration it’s a mindset shift. One that could help you create a healthier, happier life.

So, let’s explore the origins of work/life balance, why it feels impossible to achieve, and how integration could be the answer you're searching for.

Work/Life Balance: A Brief History & Why It Falls Short

Work/life balance is a term that traces back to the late 1900s-- the 1970s to be exact and it's  a time when women were entering the workforce in larger numbers and likely donning the farrah fawcett flip, a shag or a fro.

Until then, “work” and “life” were often divided between genders.

Men worked outside the home, while women handled responsibilities inside it.

But as these roles began to shift, and women started running more than the home, the term “work/life balance” emerged to describe the need to juggle personal and professional lives without conflict or without having to actually ask your husband to go to the grocery store and cook some dinner.

The concept is simple: keep work and personal life separate but equal. And that notion works as well as it did for segregation.

Life doesn’t always allow for such clean divisions.

Work bleeds into personal time, and personal responsibilities seep into work hours.

And the resources required for this balancing act—time, energy, motivation, appropriate childcare, partner support—aren’t infinite and always present.

Time, in particular, is the ultimate constraint. It’s fixed. No amount of scheduling magic can create more hours in a day.

Meanwhile, energy and motivation can be renewed, but only if you actively care for yourself- and if you are constantly running from one errand or task to the next, and have more than 1 kid, which is like 5 kids, then you're not likely leaving time for consistent self-care.

Don't believe me, ask the dishes!

Research even shows that striving for perfect balance can leave you feeling unfulfilled or worse—guilty and stressed when you fall short.

Who needs this? Not you!

So, if work/life balance is so cringe, what’s the alternative?

Work/Life Integration: A Mindset Shift

Enter: work/life integration. Yes I know, it's a word change- but it's actually so much more.

At its core, integration rejects the idea of hard boundaries between work and personal life. Instead, it embraces the natural overlap. It’s about blending work and life responsibilities in ways that align with your values and circumstances.

Think about it this way: instead of asking, “How do I balance these two separate worlds?” ask, “How can these worlds coexist in harmony?”

For example:

• Taking a walking meeting

• Bringing your kids to the office when schools are closed

• Using a mid-morning break to meditate

The reason integration works better for women in particular is how women are wired genetically versus men. To use an analogy let's talk about carbs.

Men are like waffles. They think in focused, separate efforts (or those little waffley nooks). If you poor syrup on a waffle, the syrup will go into each of the little squares. So that is how men tend to process information and tasks, in focused pieces.

Women are like pancakes. We think in more expansive terms and we see how everything is connected. If you poor syrup on a pancake, it will flood all over the pancake. And because of this women tend to see the big picture, but can often have a hard time pulling things a part.

That's why the concept work-life balance is more challenging for women, because it assumes you are a waffle when you are a pancake. In other words, work-life balance assumes you can think it terms of distinct buckets of tasks when you are as a woman wired to take and absorb everything in at once.

Work-life integration enables women to leverage our holistic perspective and our full life and all the things in it- career, family, relationship, kids, friends-- and have a more flexible, fluid approach to managing all of these areas.

The key with work-life integration is flexibility-- and that is within your mindset and also within your employers.

Work/life integration focuses on outcomes and quality, rather than rigid schedules.

It recognizes that life is unpredictable, and adaptability is a strength—not a failure. Integration empowers you to blend responsibilities based on what matters most in the moment, rather than forcing yourself into predefined boxes.

The Role of Community in Integration

As implied in my comment earlier, Work-Life Integration isn’t just about you—it’s about the people around you, both at work and at home.

Think of your life as an ecosystem filled with supporting characters who either add to or detract from your ability to integrate effectively.

In your personal life, these might be family, friends, or mentors.

At work, they could be coworkers, bosses, or even clients.

Your relationships with these people are crucial, especially during high-demand periods.

Let’s say you’re a single parent moving houses. A supportive workplace might give you the flexibility to step away during traditional hours to handle critical tasks, knowing that your output is what truly matters—not the clock.

Work-Life integration encourages us to lean on our communities and build support systems. It’s about asking for help, delegating tasks, and creating environments where others can thrive alongside you… another reason why work-life integration works so well with women as our feminine energy tends to thrive on connection.

Practical Steps to Embrace Work/Life Integration

So if you're ready to sink your pretty teeth into integration, here are some ways to get moving.

1. Audit Your Ecosystem: Take stock of your personal and professional relationships. Who’s supportive? Who’s adding friction? Where can you ask for help or adjust expectations?

2. Blend Tasks Where Possible: Look for natural overlaps. Can you complete errands during a work break? Incorporate personal interests into professional tasks?

3. Focus on Outcomes: Shift your mindset from hours worked to results achieved. Advocate for flexible arrangements that prioritize productivity and quality.

4. Set Intentional Boundaries: Integration doesn’t mean work takes over your life. It’s about creating boundaries that serve you, such as designated family time or screen-free evenings, or even having a no shitty client rule so you can keep your sanity in-tact.

Final Takeaways

So, here’s the big takeaway: work/life balance might sound ideal, but it’s not always realistic.

Work/life integration offers an alternative—one that’s fluid, adaptable, and focused on what truly matters. It’s not about achieving perfection but finding harmony in the ebb and flow of life- and bonus- it's aligned to your feminine energy.

This week, take a moment to reflect. Who’s in your ecosystem? Where can you lean on support? And how can you start blending the elements of your life in ways that bring you more joy and fulfillment?

Remember: it’s not about balance—it’s about integration.

Thanks for tuning in! If you found this episode helpful, share it with someone who might benefit. And until next time, keep building a life where you look forward to Mondays.