She had been running around all morning and finally had a chance to sit down. The cafeteria had a summer carnival special and she was looking forward to her corndog and fried twinkie. Just as she was sitting down, she heard her pants rip. She was mortified but all she could do was look at her fried twinkie. She thought about pushing it away, but at this point, “What for?” She needed new pants anyway. She had let work consume her life and all of those nights that she had skipped the gym to get ahead at work were clearly noticeable, but only on the scale.

Work-life balance is a bit like a unicorn. The idea that you can go in at 9 am and leave at 5 pm is a thing of fairytales. When you’re in a career you love or in a job that’s a stepping-stone to a career you love (think Devil Wears Prada, that doesn’t just happen in movies, trust us), it becomes incredibly easy to devote a probably insane amount of yourself into your work. Before you know it, you’re not only staying late, but you’re checking your work emails all the time and never leaving your computer at your desk. And let’s be real, for the average non-gym obsessed freak, the gym is the first to go…or is that just us that skip the gym?

Let’s start with, we don’t believe in work-life balance. The days of shutting off completely are long gone. With technology and global companies, work doesn’t stop and either do you. You will have calls at 3 am in Bentonville because that’s 9 am in London. You will get emails at 9 pm because your boss is waiting for his table at a restaurant and is using the time to respond. This list could go on but you get the idea.

Work-life balance in the traditional sense focuses on the lack of conflict or interference between work and life, suggesting a potential separation between the two…which is why we don’t believe in that. Work-life blend, however, that we strive for. Work will happen outside of core business hours, which is why we call it blend. Blend allows work to happen at off-hours when you’re “doing life”. Successful work-life blend means that you still prioritize your life but you do not restrict life to after 5 pm. And if your workplace allows it, maybe you’ll do life during core business hours without using PTO (e.g., yoga during lunch, early happy hour on a slow day) because you know you’ll be doing work later.

Accept reality. The reality is, you can’t leave at 5 pm and become completely inaccessible in most roles and organizations. Acceptance is the first step, right?

Prioritize. You probably won’t be able to do it all every day so what is the most important? This includes those events completely unrelated to work too. Try writing down the things you want to accomplish in a day or a week (make this a reasonable number of things) and be okay with some seemingly frivolous activities making it to the top of the list and some work activities not making it on the list. Figure out what is important to you.

Be consistent. We all know the numerous benefits of working out. So we will use that as an example of being consistent (we’re also guilty of skipping the gym when work gets rough one too many times, but we refrained from going up a size at this year’s Nordstrom Anniversary Sale). We’ve found that getting to yoga or the gym before work is the best way to make that happen. Yes, that means 5 am alarms. But we’ve learned that you never know what can happen in a day that can keep you from making it to the gym. Our way of getting the workout in is by showing up at the gym half-asleep. Which leads us to the next point…

Be flexible. Sometimes you will have to postpone your vacation to get something done at work. But back to the prioritize point – is it a trip with your pals where you can show up a few hours late? Or would you be missing your grandparents’ 50th anniversary? Show up late for drinks, maybe don’t skip the anniversary party.

Be honest with yourself and those around you. Do not overcommit to your boss or your friends. What can you really get done? It is better to be honest than to over promise and under deliver. And also think about your work and your life, is whichever one of those that is taking priority truly your priority? If not, maybe it’s time to change it up (have you read our post “It’s not called quitting if you’re moving in the right direction”?).

Still, you need to disconnect. You will occasionally need to disconnect to keep your sanity (leaving the country always makes a great excuse to not be available). Just choose wisely and maybe let your boss know.

From our experience, work-life balance is a bit like a unicorn. With technology and global organizations, that separation is almost impossible. Try to blend the two, but if you find that your current work isn’t letting you do life, maybe it’s time for a change.

You’ve heard our experience, now let’s hear yours (comment below or on our IG or Facebook page).