Our community is filled with hard-working, high achieving entrepreneurs and creatives and so work-life balance is a complicated, but highly relevant topic. We’ve shared some responses from the community about work life balance and how their views have evolved over time below.

Amy Pickens | Consultant & Coach

My work-life balance has undergone significant transformation over time, particularly following a pivotal health journey. At the end of 2021, I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, DFSP, a diagnosis that shook me to my core. However, after undergoing two successful surgeries in early 2022, I emerged cancer-free. Read more>>

Kim Byrd-Keitel | Physician Associate and Owner/Principal Injector at Valkyrie Medical and Aesthetics

Early in my career as a PA, I was part of the Plastic and Burn Reconstruction team at UNM. I was young and eager in an aggressive surgical field. It was common for us to work 70+ hours a week of “regular” work hours with additional “on call” hours 15 days a month. Read more>>

Andrew Fix | Director of Community Relations, Doctor of Physical Therapy – Physio Room

This is a great question. Rather than thinking about work/life balance, I like to think of this as work/life integration. To me, having them be in even ratio to one another (like a see-saw) is unrealistic. Read more>>

Austin Becker | Skier, Podcaster, Founder & Creative Director at Mtn. Born Media

For a long time, I focused heavily on traditional success: school, career, and supporting others’ dreams (often as an employee). My health and well-being came second. But life is short – the average American lifespan is 77.5 years. That realization prompted a shift. Read more>>

Jackie Koch | Denver Digital Creator

In the beginning, I put a lot of pressure on myself to be perfect and produce content daily. I also took on a lot of projects and aimed to please. I have since found more of a balance between work and family. I started saying “no thank you” a lot more and only taking on things I feel passionate about. Read more>>

Mindy Hutt | Professional Organizer & Productivity Coach

I think about work life balance as a mindful effort. Establishing balance calls you to consider what healthy boundaries look like between the work you do, and the life you want to live outside of it. Read more>> 

Amara Gardner | Illustrator and Visual Artist

I was raised to be driven, to be hard-working, and to grind. However, after working for almost a decade doing work that ended up being unfulfilling just to get by, I realized I had to find what would bring me joy. I had to make sacrifices to make my way to become a working artist. Read more>>

Cameron Robbert | Aquatics Director, Trainer & Aspiring Influencer

Earlier in my life, when I thought of a proper work life balance, a scale which was equally distributed on both sides was what came to mind. In fact, it was what I strived for! However, the more I thought about it, the less I found it applied to the reality of life. Read more>>

Chloe Wittry | Videographer, Producer and Editor

My work life balance completely changed when I had a kid, as it does for all parents. Suddenly I related very differently to time. I was working a full time corporate job when I had my daughter, and when I went back to work after three months off, I couldn’t rationalize all the time I was spending away from her. Read more>>

Shahnoza Oripova | Investor& Author

Family first, Business is only part of the life, ME time must be on the calendar, no excuses. Read more>>

Natalie Worobel, MA, LPC | Therapist & Owner

One of the main motivations for starting my practice was due to my strong belief in work life balance. As soon as I got my first full time job, I recognized it was not going to work well for me to only have two weeks of vacation a year, do the same task for 40 hours a week, and work at times set by someone else. Read more>>