At least for me, it’s not.

The theory behind the Concept of Work-Life Balance resonates with the narrative that Work and Life are separate elements, that WHAT YOU DO doesn’t make part of WHO YOU ARE!

I don’t buy it.

I can’t live like this.

I love working, I need to feel that what I’m doing is both productive and relevant to me and to those around me – Family is one of my non-negotiable elements, just as Professionalism, Independency and Transparency.

That clearly indicates that I can’t separate both, I need both to be equally relevant.

Now, when we think about being successful, is very hard to achieve it without putting significant effort into it – who remembers the 10,000 hours to be “competent” at a task?
Although this study isn’t quite straightforward with all the key concepts or even translated to all tasks, it provides a clear benchmark for the needed efforts to, at least, be in a position to say that we might start understanding something about that specific task (ie. Training and Studying at least 10,000 hours to start mastering Football, or Accounting, or Management).

To clarify, 10,000 hours are almost 417 days alone, but if we consider that we only have 24 hours a day, and that 8 hours of those 24 are spent sleeping and another 8 hours are spent in work or school, and another 2 to 4 hours are spent in different activities (ie. Meals, getting ready, commutes, etc) – that leaves us with only a maximum of 4 hours a day to practice, or study. 

Then, the 10,000 metric passes to 2500 days (or almost 7 years)!

Therefore, we can establish that it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

If it’s a marathon, compounding is working at your favor – but most of us can’t really understand the power of compounding (I’ve written about this before at https://tactictalks.org/2025/10/06/compounding-power-in-football-business/)

But, who can compound without interference of your own personality ?
Who believes that?

Another aspect, one that is very relevant for me, is Obsession (I’ve already delve on this theme long-time ago, you can find it here https://tactictalks.org/2024/10/02/the-good-obsession/).

Positive Obsession, naturally.
But, what is Positive Obsession ?

For me is clear – is the capacity to channel your energy and efforts towards something positive, one that gives you both pleasure, sense of commitment and competence. One that is also adding quality to others, impacting positively a broader audience – where one feels that is relevant!

To explain this better, I always use the Cristiano Ronaldo example. 

If Cristiano wasn’t obsessed, could he be at top-Football for so long and achieve the successes that he achieved?

And to be fighting for Messi for the successive Balon D’Or for 15 years?
Scoring 40+ Goals at the age of 40 like it’s “normal” ??
Not a chance!!

But Ronaldo was able to turn his Passion for the Game, his hunger to be the best, to beat all Records, to be memorable beyond his career, to be Relevant in Football, into an Obsession – a Positive Obsession.

That’s why he’s my GOAT and I can’t see it differently – because Ronaldo became Relevant to ALL beyond Football lovers.
If you think about soft skills as Resilience, Hard-Work, continuous capacity to surpass barriers, Commitment among others, that are relevant to ALL jobs or occupations, who comes to mind? There’s no other better than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Therefore, he be became Relevant to more fields, or sectors, than just Football.

Another question is if he would be a good teammate at all times or if you would enjoy all times with him?
Probably not, but that’s also something that could lead us to think further – are there improvements without discussion, without barriers, without conflicts?

Back to the theme, the theme work-life balance is one hard to understand for me.

And that doesn’t necessarily mean that I don’t enjoy time off, or spent with the family, or whatever.

It’s just about portions – what one needs that is different than others.

I might be wrong, but it’s definitely a challenge I’ve always faced.

What about you ?

How do you face Work-life Balance ?