What role does money play in trying to create work-life harmony? 

There's a common misconception when it comes to creating work-life harmony for ourselves that we need more money so that we can work less. This argument is only true to a certain extent. Agreed, we all need to work in some shape or form to make money to support ourselves. However, the key to finding work-life harmony is finding a form of work you love such that you don't feel like you need to work less. 

The reality is that it’s hard to find this form of work....

As a result, we do tend to resort back to the argument of needing more money. We try to make more money in a different way so we can reduce the time we spend doing the work we don’t enjoy. 

This often results in me being asked the key question... How can you make (more) money?

Let me explain in this post the 3 different ways you can make money.  

This is where you sell your time to make money. The amount you earn is largely proportional to how many hours you work, such that if you stop working you will stop earning. You can work this way on an employed or self-employed basis. The amount you can earn using this income stream varies significantly depending on your role, experience, specific knowledge and the industry. The key thing to appreciate with this income stream is you are limited as to how much you can earn based on how much time you have available to commit to this type of work. There are only 24 hours in a day. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have multiple jobs that make you money using this type of income stream... you will just have even less time to do other things you want to do. I make money using this method through the work I do as a part-time doctor & any 1:1 coaching services I provide to help others navigate career changes or start a business. 

This is where you make money by buying something which will increase in value. This increase in value might occur for various different reasons such as increased demand, reduced supply or changes in investment rates. Examples of this include buying stocks/shares, property (also called real estate), wine, fine art or land. You can make money from these investments at the point you decide to sell the investment. However, it is NOT guaranteed that anything you buy of this nature will increase in value. There is always a risk anything you buy could decrease in value which would mean you loose money at the point you decide to sell it. This is arguably the most passive form of making money (provided your investments do actually appreciate in value) but you will still need to spend time researching what you want to buy & maintaining whatever it is you have bought. You won’t be able to resell wine you have purchased if it hasn’t been stored properly. I have purchased various investments but I haven’t technically made money from this method as I haven’t sold any of them (yet)!

This last method of making money is by cash-flowing things you own (e.g. renting a property) or creating things which can make money (e.g. a product or service where you don’t just exchange your time for money). The key thing about this method of making money is it isn’t proportional to how much time you invest into creating the asset. As an example, if you have knowledge in a specific area you could use this to create an asset such as a book, digital content or online course which you could sell to generate income. As another example, if you own a property or land you could rent this out to generate income. Arguably, creating a business falls into this method of money making provided your business doesn’t stop when you stop. The risk associated with this method of making money depends on how established the market is for your asset & the demand. I’m making money using this method through my own businesses. 

Do you need more money to achieve work-life harmony? 

You don’t necessarily need more money to achieve work-life harmony. 

The whole point of finding work-life harmony is that you enjoy your work, such that it doesn’t feel like work & it allows you to do all the other things you want to do in life too.

It might be that earning more or replacing your income using these other ways of making money can help you reduce your hours to achieve this more harmonious relationship. 

This is what helped me as a doctor experiencing burnout & a lack of fulfilment in my role but it might be that you just need to change your work.... There really isn't any point continuing in a job role if you really do just hate it. 

Did you know I send a weekly email newsletter with more tips to help you create a work-life you love? This includes my thoughts about navigating our careers (including career changes), starting a business & creating habits to help us live a better life. Please click here if you'd like to receive it each week (it's called my Thursday Thoughts.... there aren't any prizes for guessing which day of the week I send it).