Creating a sustainable work-life balance is one of your big goals in life and in your career?
It’s not always easy to have a fulfilling personal life and a successful business life at the same time. The ugly truth is that time flies so fast while we are working and living our day-to-day lives. Too rarely do we ask ourselves if we really have an actual work-life balance, or what we can change about our current lifestyle to achieve it.
That’s why we’ve compiled 👏 the best work-life balance quotes for you. May they help you get inspired and maybe even take steps towards a better balance and live a truly authentic life fueled by a sense of purpose!
What is work-life balance?
To achieve work-life balance, we first need to know what exactly this term means.
“Work-life balance” describes a state in which professional obligations and private life are in harmony. The division between official commitment, private matters and leisure phases is balanced.
📝 Note: This is one of the reasons why many people today are looking for a flexible workplace that allows them to prioritize both work and private life in a way that suits their individual situation.
To kick things off, we have selected a few job-life balance quotes for you that (in our opinion) get to the heart of what work-life balance actually means!
What is a quote about work-life stress?
When we say that we have so much stress in our jobs, we usually mean the following:
The truth is that stress doesn’t come from your boss, your kids, your spouse, traffic jams, health challenges, or other circumstances. It comes from your thoughts about your circumstances. – Andrew Bernstein
What is a humorous quote on work-life balance?
If you’re still searching for a happy balance (but it seems nowhere to be found), approach your work-life balance with humor!
I choose a lazy person to do a hard job, because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it. – Bill Gates
What is a happy work quote?
When creating work-life balance for yourself, always bear the following in mind:
Let the beauty of what you love be what you do. – Rumi
What is the best work-life balance quote?
Doesn’t it really all boil down to the following?
Either you run the day, or the day runs you. – Jim Rohn
Now let’s move on to these 25 amazing quotes about a wholesome work-life balance.
💡 Tip: Just give them a skim and see if anything resonates with you. If so, feel free to pull out a notebook and write down the quotes you feel most inspired by!
25 wholesome quotes about work-life balance
Why not start with the “bad news”? (And a solution for them, of course):
1. Michael Altshuler
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.
2. Thomas Edison
Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing that he/she can’t afford to lose.
3. Carl Sandburg
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent.
4. Dolly Parton
Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.
📝 Note: The first quotes were all about “time”. Does that make you reconsider your priorities?
5. Alexander Kjerulf
Most people chase success at work, thinking that will make them happy. The truth is that happiness at work will make you successful.
6. Sydney J. Harris
Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.
7. Joshua Osenga
Balance is a feeling derived from being whole and complete; it’s a sense of harmony. It is essential to maintaining quality in life and work.
8. Stephen R. Covey
The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.
9. Betsy Jacobson
Balance is not better time management, but better boundary management. Balance means making choices and enjoying those choices.
10. Philip Green
It’s all about quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends and family.
11. Melissa Steginus
Remember that work and life coexist. Wellness at work follows you home and vice versa.
12. Lisa Sugar
You have to balance your passions, not your time.
13. Kathleen Hall
We have overstretched our personal boundaries and forgotten that true happiness comes from living an authentic life fueled with a sense of purpose and balance.
14. Robyn L. Gobin
Self-care is, fundamentally, about bringing balance back to a life that has grown imbalanced from too many commitments or responsibilities.
📝 Note: What does “balance” mean to you?
15. Heather Schuck
You will never feel truly satisfied by work until you are satisfied by life.
16. Michelle Obama
Women in particular need to keep an eye on their physical and mental health, because if we’re scurrying to and from appointments and errands, we don’t have a lot of time to take care of ourselves. We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.
17. Zig Ziglar
I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can’t truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles.
18. Thomas Kinkade
Balance, peace and joy are the fruit of a successful life. It starts with recognizing your talents and finding ways to serve others by using them.
19. Catherine Pulsifer
The gift of balance in your life – may you find the balance of life, time for work but also time for play. Too much of one thing ends up creating stress that no one needs in their life.
20. Brian Dyson
Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them –work, family, health, friends and spirit, and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged and even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.
21. Rich Fettke
Struggle doesn’t make success happen. In fact, struggle can prevent success from happening. If you seek struggle, you will find it. If you seek ease, you will find it.
22. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Reconsider your definitions. We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles, rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.
23. Steve Blank
When you’re gone, would you rather have your gravestone say, ‘He never missed a meeting?’ Or one that said, ‘He was a great father.’
24. Carl Sandburg
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
25. Michael Thomas Sunnarborg
Working smarter is learning to prioritize, plan and focus our energies with meaningful intent.
📝 Note: Read the last quote again and especially remember this: “Prioritize, plan, and focus your energies with meaningful intent.”
The best work-life balance quotes – conclusion
A good work-life balance is an essential prerequisite for being truly satisfied with your work in the long run.
A balanced life helps you do your job better and achieve true career success. That’s why it’s perfectly fine to keep your work and personal life separate. Try not to let work interfere too much with your personal time, and think about better boundary management.
A good start is to analyze the areas in your life that you really want to prioritize and incorporate them into your overall time management. For example, if you’re a late riser and usually don’t become productive until later in the day or even in the evening, you may want to ask your employer to change your schedule. If something like this isn’t possible in your job, accept what you have and try to make minor adjustments. This way you can also grow and nourish your personal happiness.
If you are an employer, consider this quote by Marc Benioff:
“[…] employees today expect more from the companies for whom they work. Why shouldn’t [their] workplace reflect [their] values? Why is ‘giving back’ not a part of [all] our jobs?”
📝 Note: As a leader, don’t forget to also check out our list of the 50 most famous leadership quotes!
💡 Tip: If you struggle with a good balance because you have productivity issues and procrastinate a lot, read our article “How to increase productivity in the workplace”!
One last quote before we send you off:
“You don’t have to make yourself miserable to be successful. […]. Success isn’t about working hard, it’s about working smart.” – Andrew Wilkinson
Work-life balance – FAQ
Work-life balance is a state of successfully balancing the demands of one’s personal life with those of one’s professional life.
To achieve a perfect work-life balance, the first thing you need to do is set clear boundaries in your work and personal life.
The term “work-life fit” would be a good alternative, because the search for the perfect balance often involves a lot of pressure. You should also be able to find joy in a small change, for example, being able to work from home one day a month.
