When we talk about transitions in our daily lives, often it’s a question of finding 20 minutes in a busy day to do the thing you love most. It’s about transitioning from work life to home life, navigating the way we spend our personal time. 

The whole work/life balance question. 

It’s a phrase that comes with baggage: questions about work/life balance can have a gendered element to them, implying that women are somehow supposed to ask for a raise, pack lunch for the kids, and take a bubble bath, all in the same day. Or these questions oversimplify the idea of balance, putting things on a since axis where work makes you unhappy and only “life” — as in life outside of work — brings you joy. 

Business coach Lauren Bacon sees things a bit differently. She considers work/life balance on a matrix with four quadrants, a customizable gauge of happiness and energy.