Find Work-Life Balance

by Christine Carter

Many of us live our lives in the pursuit of more: more money, more prestige, more accomplishments. In return for giving so much of ourselves over to productivity and goals, we often sacrifice our health, our relationships, and, ultimately, our well-being. How do we strike the right balance between the increasingly heavy expectations of our professions and our own personal needs?Author, life coach, and leadership expert Dr. Christine Carter believes that we need to completely rethink the way we approach our work in relation to the rest of our lives. And in the 10 lessons of Find Work-Life Balance, that is exactly what she will help you do. What does it mean to transform how we think about work? Well, it looks something like:

Learning how to manage conflicting priorities.
Setting boundaries and taking rest breaks.
Breaking harmful patterns that lead to burnout and exhaustion.
Cultivating behaviors that allow some tasks to be on “auto-pilot.”
Dealing with mental clutter and minimizing distractions.
Utilizing healthy de-stressors and coping mechanisms.

Establishing “better-than-nothing” habits.
Of course, building new habits and a healthier mindset is not something you will accomplish overnight. As you will see, these efforts take time—and sometimes you will have setbacks and need to find your footing again. Dr. Carter’s intention is not to transform your life within a matter of days. Rather, the goal of Find Work-Life Balance is to meet you where you are right now so you can map a manageable course for where you finally want to be.

The Great Courses

©2024 Audible Originals (P)2024 Audible Originals, LLC

Genres: Audiobook, Self Help, Nonfiction

Audible Audio

Published January 9, 2025

About the author

Christine Carter, Ph.D., is a sociologist and author of The New Adolescence, The Sweet Spot and Raising Happiness. A sought-after keynote speaker and senior fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, she draws on scientific research to help people lead their most courageous, joyful, meaningful, and productive lives.

Reviews

[Carrie Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great book with some practical tips I hadn’t heard before on focus and balance at work. Loved it!

[Sian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice easy listen with some good points to help get in the motion of practising successfully a work, life balance. I enjoyed it, it’s filled with lots of positive vibes and enthusiasm.

[Biggest Little Book Talker · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some book points, but I am not really moved by what was said.
I did like the points about business and how society and work see it as something good. Being busy is okay but being so busy you add to your stress which can lead to burn out is not.
Multitasking is actually something that can add to the business and lead to burn out quicker, according to this audible. No studied are sighted, but I can believe that.
We are essentially always overloading our brain, to it makes sense that our bodies would hit a breaking point if we don't adjust it.
This audible asks you to stop viewing your exhaustion as a trophy, why?
The more busy you are, or try to be, the more exhausted you become and it can make your anxiety increase because your are not properly addressing you priorities.
It then goes into way to calm you inner thoughts, learn how to prioritize, set boundaries, and change your overall mindset.
Examples are given for all of these and if put into practice should work.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think many people would give this audiobook one more star than I did.

I think many people simply need someone to point out what they need to do to improve their lives. Therefore this course might be a real boon to them.

Personally, I recognized many of the things recommended here as what I do already. I find these things helped me to be successful and happy with my life. They did take a long time to develop though... probably 5 years before they became more or less automatic.

That was with repeated effort.

I'm not sure most people would be willing or motivated enough to put in that kind of effort.

So... good suggestions. I doubt most people would benefit simply due to a lack of motivation.

Your mileage may vary.

[Cheshire Cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

The information was straight to the point. I agree with a lot of points that the author said, but none of them really stood out to me as quite a few of the mentioned habits/activities is something that I already do. It’s not a bad book, but I think it is for people who just need a little push in the right direction to start focusing on their mindfulness and the energy.

I do want to note that citations mentioned in the book are not identified by who or where they’re from. I’m not sure if it is due to the audible version.

[Mikaela Stadler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical summary of productivity practices AND mindfulness practices. I love the way she reframes practices we know we should do into things we get to do with habit stacking, priority scheduling, and even setting boundaries. So practical and so relatable.

[Meagan Parry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. Same idea as many books along this line. Make yourself 1% better each day, get good habits and don’t be overly critical of failures.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. The narration was perfect and the information in the book is priceless.

[Ashley O'shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good ideas, very practical.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got through almost a third of this series of lectures and learned nothing of note.

[AttackGirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

No such thing…. Really