24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week. Junior investment bankers regularly work 80-90 hours a week. Many other high profile professions require the same level of commitment. Often those on the outside claim that working 80-90 hours a week is bad/wrong/terrible/silly/etc but we’ve spoken with so many folks who say working that much has been the best decision of their life – it allowed them to develop a deep and strong skill set far faster than would have been possible otherwise. In other words, by working 2x the hours, they were able to generate 5x or more the rewards. And depending on where you are in your career, investing heavily in your skills and competence can pay dividends for a long time.

Raymond Joseph | Artist, producer, string arranger, composer

As I get older my body tends to be louder in telling me when to stop or take a break. This could be on a mini scale-needing a 15 minute break within a day, or a larger scale-needing a a day off after a few weeks of getting after it. I’ve been trying my best to listen to this to become better balanced. I want to be able to make music for a long long time. Who would’ve thought that means sometimes not making it. Read more>>

Adri Clery | Founder and Designer – Atelier Interiors

Work life balance was something I struggled with for years. When you work for yourself it never really stops, especially initially. I was a driven 29 year old with a big vision and would dedicate all my time and energy to building the Atelier brand, and taking on increasingly more challenging projects — often to the detriment of my own wellbeing. The design and architecture industry is renowned for demanding hours, with each project having its own share of stressful deadlines and unexpected problem solving. Read more>>

Allison Tibbs | Wellness Coach

As an entrepreneur, I have realized that there were times when “pushing”, “hustling”, and “grinding” were necessary and important for me to build my business and my business. However, if I could go back in time, I would have told myself to create more harmony between times of work and times of rest. Read more>>

Joey J. Haley | Steadicam Operator & Director

Balance is everything. Balance is my basic, overall approach to life. Here are the things that I currently am/ attach titles to: Steadicam operator, director, dancer, capoeirista, 1st AC, fencer. There’s more but in any case, I usually say in any context, “I’m a dancer first, I’m a ____ second”. Knowing who I am and what matters most helps me keep perspective and that is key to being balanced. Read more>>

Simone Alexia | Mixed Media Artist

We live many lives within one lifetime. Creating art has had it’s ebbs and flows as the creative process is always fluid. It has to do with the how your relationships develop, the places you live, or the amount of time you have in a day to think and reflect about your experiences. There’s so many elements to life that create a sort of “collage” of your story that’s always being built upon. Read more>>

Madeline Doherty | Creative Producer and Screenwriter

When I first started, I was non-stop and it’s not for the faint of heart — there is no such thing as balance in the infancy of starting your own business. There are infinite moving parts. Every waking moment was spent building my clientele, acquiring the skillset to operate a camera and all the tech aspects that fall under the umbrella of production, as well as creating a business model that would be long-lasting. After the first year, the hard work paid off with the ability to bring on interns and outsource in areas I didn’t enjoy (camera operators, audio, and sound designers.) Read more>>

Kim Van Dusen | Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Registered Play Therapist

Trying to achieve balance is one of the most difficult aspects of being a parent and a business owner. I have learned over the years to accept the days I don’t get everything done and give myself grace when I can’t do everything. When I first started out, I said “YES” to every opportunity that came my way. I worked long hours and put my business first more than anything or anyone else. But by doing this, I was doing myself a disservice. Read more>>

Moriah Lowe | Playlist Curator & A&R Assistant

My work life balance has definitely changed over the years. I tend to immerse myself in my work and sometimes can “work too hard or too long”. I always wanted to be quick with tasks and had a habit of dropping everything to get something done for my team. Once I started to feel the effects of burnout, I decided to change how I balanced tasks and personal time. Work started feeling like a chore instead of being fun, which isn’t what I want for myself. I want to be able to work and enjoy what I’m doing, as I’m sure everyone does, so I knew that I needed to start setting goals for myself. Read more>>

Lisa Giffen | Aesthetic Nurse Practitioner

When I first started in my career as a nurse (I recently became a. Nurse Practitioner) I had no balance. I was all work. I was resentful, angry, too tightly wound up, and I was very inflexible. To say the least I was not fun to be around! Lately, in the past year or so I have focused on balance. I am such a better provider, co-worker, friend, daughter, and aunt if I am balancing. I make sure that I do a few fun things a week that are not related to my business or work. My mind has to be completely shut off. I have such an amazing social group right now, and I absolutely love my life- which is pretty amazing to say now. I love the journey I am on and I’m really peaceful. The little things don’t bother me as much. I can go with the flow with the Universe. If things don’t go my way I just let it go and realize it’s not meant to be. Read more>>

Pao Ju Chen | Illustrator

As a freelance illustrator from Taiwan, finding a balance between work and life has been crucial for me. Initially, after graduating from MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art), I struggled to manage my time effectively. I often overworked myself and even sacrificed weekends for work. Additionally, during periods of low commissions, I felt lost and unsure of what to do. Read more>>

Louis Kind | self-made lifestyle influencer, content creator, curator, and public figure

When I first started working as an influencer, I believe that I might have made the mistake of overvaluing it as a part of my life. When it came to work life balance, I initially gave all the different parts of my life equal value. This translated to me scheduling myself time to film and putting pressure upon myself to post constantly early on. But as I have grown to learn, not everything matters the same way. I recognize now that I have a lot on my plate, and I am not in a position where I have the energy to be spending large amounts of it on influencing. Read more>>

Natalie Olivas | Freelance Makeup Artist

This is something that became recently hard for me. When it comes to creating I don’t have a work life balance, my work is my life and I let it consume me. I recently had a my first daughter at the end of 2022 and that changed everything for me. I had to learn to separate it, I could no longer sit at my desk for hours losing myself I had a whole other life to care for so it was very challenging trying to make time for both. At first I don’t think I really touched my makeup until she was around 3/4 months old. She’s almost 8 months now and i’m still struggling to find that balance, it still feels like a hobby sometimes not being able to fully jump back in. Read more>>

Audrey Sato | Principal Architect of Sato Architects, Inc. & Mother

When I first started my own business over 12 years ago, we were still in the recession, and I supplemented my business income with other sources, such as teaching architecture at Cal Poly Pomona. As you can imagine, working in this way meant I was working a lot more than 40 hours a week! I think it’s natural for a young business owner to feel pressure to work hard and “say yes” to everything that comes their way. Read more>>

Hanna Ainsworth (Yocute) | Musician, Songwriter, Educator & Vintage Reselle

Interestingly enough, you caught me at a time when I needed to reevaluate my work life balance. My latest and upcoming beyondheryears.co vintage collection titled, “becoming” has been the word of the year for me. “Becoming” is defined as, the process of coming to be something or of passing into a state. I am currently 39 weeks pregnant – within the past year, I have become a wife and am now passing into a state of becoming a mom. Becoming a mom truly is a beautiful journey filled with many emotions which requires a lot of grace, faith and patience. Read more>>

Thea Cheah | Potter

It’s been great. I have the perfect balance to do things according to what I want to at work and when I just want to do something more laid back. Read more>>

David Michael Lee | Artist, Professor, Curator

Work-life balance is not something that occupies much of my thoughts because I genuinely enjoy what I do. Even when I go on vacations with my family, we always find a cultural element associated with the experience. It seems that every town we visit has museums or spaces that provide valuable opportunities for learning. Read more>>