Work-Life Balance is a Myth
Sign up to receive regular emails about living a fulfilling and meaningful life
I used to strive for balance
Now I believe it’s a myth. No matter how hard I tried, I was never able to achieve that perfect moment of Zen and harmony between all areas of my life.
Instead of bringing me joy, I felt defeated – more stressed, more burdened, and more defeated. In a radical move, brought on by intense life events, I decided to stop. I’d had enough of depleting myself trying to achieve an impossible standard.
Something remarkable happened next. Once I stopped trying to achieve perfect work-life balance, I discovered a third-way rhythm, “a repeated pattern of movement” where work, life, play, relationships, rest, finances, friendships, and adventure could co-exist within my experience of each day.
This utterly transformed my life. Instead of endlessly striving for something that was unachievable, I began to experience my life as a complete whole where every valuable aspect was connected and worked together. I began to discover the Divine’s presence and meaning in places I had never noticed before.
From the outside, my life looks pretty much the same. I still work a full-time corporate career. I’m still married to the same woman. I still live in the same neighborhood. The only difference is me.
I’m no longer fragmented. I’m whole and integrated.
Now, I invite you to experience the same.
Do your best work
Live the life you want to live
Play a lot more
Fire your Boss
Fire Your Boss is the disruptive alternative blueprint for charting a new life-giving career path that gives you control, allowing you to set your own rules for your work life. Discover how to plot a new course of career freedom and independence, empowerment, and self-reliance. Find your smile again, rekindle your mojo, recapture the art of your work, and start enjoying your work every single day.
Get the Book
Work Life Play
In my podcast Work Life Play, I interview good humans, entrepreneurs, artists, heretics, authors, liberators, adventurers, and innovators, who achieve inspiring results despite setbacks and prove that we can live, lead and succeed as wholehearted people. These interviews will illuminate the micro-adjustments you can make in your approach, your mindsets, your beliefs and habits to do work you love, live the life you want to live and play a lot more. Keep going.
Featured Episodes

Higher Power Nudges with Holden McHugh #198
Wise. Gracious, and he’s teaching me a lot about the power of building an everyday muscle. He talks about how he makes decisions waiting for nudges from “Higher Power” and his brave beginnings of sobriety.
Listen Now
The Mindsets that Drive Us with Author Ryan Gottfredson #189
Ryan Gottfredson is a successful mindset expert. Mindsets as the lenses we wear to help us interpret and engage with the world. In our conversation, we talk about how we […]
Listen Now
Why We Need a Whole Heart| My talk from my book release #177
Usually, I wouldn’t write an introduction to a podcast episode that I am the “guest” or the speaker. But hey, this is the best talk I’ve ever given at my […]
Listen Now
Essentialism: Less, But Better with Greg McKeown Part 1 Episode #148
My interview with Greg McKeown, author of the New York Times Bestseller, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, produced poignant questions that warrant an accompanying question guide. I believe lasting […]
Listen NowField Reports
Navigating is easier with a guide and a map. In my blog, Field Reports, I share my experiences and thoughts on living and leading with a whole heart, and creating a life where work, life, play, relationships, rest, finances, friendships, and adventure co-exist within each day.
Featured Posts

The Master in the Art of Living
My friend Sam has this quote from James Michener in his Hawaiian home on the hillside above Waimea. His playful life disrupted mine more than a decade ago. I didn’t […]
Read More
Trip Report: Adventure Awaits Colorado’s Winter Backcountry Huts & Yurts
We weren’t sure if the wood burning stovetop would be too hot to serve as a griddle for our pancakes. Alex improvised by adding a stick of butter to the […]
Read More
Trip Report: The Pfiffner Traverse High Route
I recently completed another mountain project, The Pfiffner Traverse. It’s history is steeped in multiple pioneers like world-class mountaineer Gerry Roach, and most recently, Andrew Skurka dusted off Gerry’s original […]
Read More
Why I Write About More Than Just Work-Life Balance?
(Written in 2014) I never set out to write a blog. I told myself, that’s the last thing the world needs, another guy with an opinion. This month marks my third […]
Read MoreReboot Live
Reboot is a revolutionary, experiential, and brilliantly crafted workshop to help you rediscover what’s most important to you and stop what’s not working. We’ll dig deep together to help you get unstuck, throw off limiting beliefs, and help you architect a sustainable life you want to live.
Learn More
Energizing Keynotes for Embracing Life
Bring inspiration and energy to your event with Aaron’s signature keynotes, Rebooting Your Life and Acting Like a Pro 8 Minutes At a Time. Aaron will teach your audience how to architect their work and life for sustainable joy and to embrace the adventure of living their real lives.
Invite Aaron to Speak

Aaron McHugh was an outstanding keynote at USA Cycling’s Coaching Summit. In the coaching world it is imperative to be and act like a pro. Aaron’s anecdotal stories and life experiences were easy for coaches to understand and apply to their world. Aaron knows what it means to go PRO.