What’s My Balance Between Work and Life?

I think the ultimate aim in the world, and I might be ridiculous for thinking this, is to get pleasure from your work. Somebody asked, what is my view on work-life balance? Well, I'm the worst person in the world to ask like this, because I have the absolute worst balance of all. I spend way too much time working. But you know what? It's a weird question, because does that mean when I'm working, I'm not alive? That isn't life, you know? So if you go through my course of my day, I get up and I meditate, you know, that's pretty good experience. Then I'm like eating breakfast, I'm eating lunch, I'm taking care of my biological needs, I'm showering, et cetera. I'm taking a nap, then I'm having dinner, then I kind of watch TV, then I sleep, and I exercise. Okay, that's life, I guess. But I am most excited when I sit down and I'm working on The Sublime Book. That's four hours every day, because I can't do any more. Four hours is a good day for me, anymore, and I just feel too tired. But man, I feel so alive. So as soon as I finish doing these interviews that you're now listening to, I'm going to go in my office, and I'm going to start working on this chapter that's killing me, because there is a lot of suffering and pain going on. But I feel very alive when I'm doing it. I mean, I understand some people work too hard, they work too long, they don't know how to enjoy themselves, they don't have enough pleasure in their life. But I think the ultimate aim in the world, and I might be ridiculous for thinking this, is to get pleasure from your work, to feel that your work is alive, is life, is wonderful. It doesn't mean that you don't spend time with your kids, or your partner, your spouse, or you don't take vacations, or you don't do interesting things. No, those are all fun, that's all living, that's a balance. But why there has to be this rigid separation between work and life? What you want is this blurry thing where work is fun, work is an adventure, work is a vacation for me. I know that's a privilege that a lot of people don't have if you're flipping burgers at a fast food chain, I get it. But even if you're flipping burgers at a fast food chain, what I'd say is, you're learning things about yourself, you're learning things about the people that you come in contact with, the really stupid, nasty customers, or the pleasant customers that come in. Everything in your work life can be a learning and pleasurable experience if you look at it that way. So I'm the last person to ask that way. My work-life balance is horrible, I'm a horrible example. I work too much, but it's because I love my work, so that's the only way I know how to answer it.