Work life balance is extremely important to me, especially as I used to work over 100 hours per week and had no work/life balance at all! However, what I find so frustrating is that people think that it is some exceedingly difficult thing to achieve when it's actually not that hard to do. Certainly, some people may need to professional help to show them how to do this. However, it is much better to seek help rather than to struggle on by yourself. You can only juggle so much for so long until you start dropping things. At which point (hopefully) one of those will hit you on the head and knock some sense into you! There is no point living your life on a merry-go-round if you can't enjoy the ride. We all have 168 hours in our week, but if you can find a way to make it seem as if you have 218.4 (for example) then how much better off will you be?

I completely agree with the need for work life balance. Likewise I used to work 12-14 hours/day for a multinational mining company before I left and set up my own consulting business. I felt that I got my soul back after I had made this decision as I was always physically and mentally exhausted.Now I choose my clients and my projects around my other life choices which include living on a farm, walking my dogs in the forest, learning French and running a cooking school. I still have to travel for work quite frequently, however when I return, I take time off with my family and friends. I also block out time for holidays at the beginning of the year and plan work accordingly. Every so often things go pear-shaped and I have to put in some big hours to get things back on track but at least I now have the energy to do this.

I think it is more of a juggling act than a balance - I have young children, two jobs, a boyfriend, friends, a garden and the desire to read a book each week. It's definitely not balanced - sometimes I neglect my reading to spend time with the kids. Sometimes I have to take time away from one job to work at the other. I don't have a set schedule because I know I will break it often and feel guilty.
I have often think I could work more - more hours, higher paid position with mroe responsibility - but I know that when I have worked the 60 hour week in the past, my children have suffered. and my health has suffered and no one ends up happy, even if we have extra money. And in the end, I burn out. I'm much more conscious now that I have to come first - without me being healthy and happy, my children can't have a healthy happy mum to care for them. My partner can't have a healthy, happy girlfriend. My boss can't have a healthy, happy employee. And not only do they all deserve to have that, but I deserve to be healthy and happy in and for it's own sake.
So I juggle. And occasionally, I drop a ball. But it's a lot easier to pick up a ball than it is to pick up your whole self when your balance fails and you fall down.

I am a non-traditional woman in the workplace. That is, I am over 40, single and childless. To me, work/life balance means something different than the usual "no overtime, fixed hours that accommodate my children's school schedule". To me it is a workplace
that offers flexibility in hours so that when something comes up with little or no notice, i can handle it without needing to apologize 12 times for being late or leaving early, and without feeling like my future is limited at the company because it is not
conducive to my work life balance to have a fixed start and end time every day. As a single with no relatives, i find that these sorts of things occur once or twice a month, which is once or twice too often in a workplace that gives loud lip service to work/life
balance for non-traditional workers with non-traditional requirements. Another element of work/life balance is that if i am on a super productive streak, I prefer to keep my focus and go for a 12 hour stretch one day, and have a shorter day later in the week
without having to beg, usually unsuccessfully, for comp time. I know that fixed start/end time schedules are prized by some, but it just drives me nuts to have to choose between unpaid overtime or less productivity... Or to work when i know i am not at my
productive best, just because of an hour on the clock, when i am in a professional salaried role that really has no business requirement other than "it makes he boss happy" for me to work a fixed schedule.

To Non-Traditional working woman: thanks so much for sharing your perspective, it's every bit as valid and doesn't sound to me like you're asking for much. Good luck with it! Cheers, Jen