Aaron McHugh
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Work-Life Balance is a Myth

Stories for an integrated life

Aaron McHugh laughing, wearing a backwards cap — black and white portrait More about Aaron

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 and integration, “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 full-time, now coaching executive teams in large global organizations. 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.

Let go of work-life balance and embrace the unforced rhythms of a fully integrated life. Embrace the mess, the beauty-the imperfection of integration.

Now, I invite you to experience the same.

Keep going-
Aaron

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Book

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.

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Podcast

Work Life Play

Conversations on letting go of work-life balance and living a fully integrated life. 255 episodes since 2012.

Featured Episodes

A Decade of Work Life Play Anniversary Edition

In this new decade anniversary celebration episode, Morgan Snyder is in the Work Life Play studio to interview me. We reflect on the decade of experiments, trusting the wisest voice […]

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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.

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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 […]

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A Brave Conversation with Yourself

In this Work Life Play Decade Anniversary episode, I explore the question, “When was the last time you had a brave conversation with yourself?” I’m proud to share these little […]

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100,000 Downloads: Then & Now Morgan Snyder Interviews Me Episode #138

Morgan Snyder, host of Become Good Soil podcast, and my close friend interviews me on Work Life Play in celebration of this podcast reaching 100,000 downloads. We titled it “Then […]

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Dropping the Rock

In this Work Life Play Decade Anniversary episode, I explore dropping the rock of old unhelpful stories I’d told myself, limiting my experience of today. You may have a rock […]

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How I Burned Out and Came Back Episode #54

If you’ve ever burned out, flirted with the idea of burn out or could envision that burn out is in your future, you’ll identify with my story. Burn out isn’t […]

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I Bet My Life On What I Believe Episode #160

My savings account just hit zero. We’ve bet our life on what we believe, and I’d like to shoot straight with you about what its been like the last seven […]

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Latest Episodes
Blog

Field Reports

Navigating is easier with a guide and a map. Field Reports are my notes on living and leading with a whole heart, where work, life and play share each day.

Featured Posts

Why I believe Work-Life Balance is a Myth

Let go of work-life balance and embrace the unforced rhythms of a fully integrated life. I used to think that work-life balance was achievable.Now I believe it is a myth.No […]

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Tent-Bound: A Poem About Midlife and New Horizons

Tent-Bound No one told me it would come to this—Tent-bound with a full life of songs and heartbreak. Just outside the zipper door,thunder’s convincing accusation:Am I beyond the reach of […]

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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 […]

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Trip Report: Alaska’s Gates of the Arctic

“Alaska’s Ultimate Wilderness,” The Brooks Range-North America’s Northernmost mountain range is home to The Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. In early June of 2021, our adventure trio Chris, […]

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Commence Reboot: How We Rebooted Our Life and Started Over

We thought about buying a zoo. Our second option was to live in a tour bus. Our life was in need of a reboot. We thought Anne Lamott’s prescription just […]

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Trip Report: Backpacking The Weminuche High Route

Deep in Colorado’s largest wilderness area, our adventure trio, Chris, Dave, and I, were hunting “spectacular plateaus of rolling tundra, ripsaw ridges, cliff-ringed lakes, and lush midsummer wildflowers” on The […]

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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 […]

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Explorers Manifesto

Thirteen of us just completed our maiden Explorers journey. Our bakers dozen, explored the frontier edges of big questions through a combination of Zoom virtual sessions and an in-person adventure […]

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Pierce the veneer of outside things

“We had pierced the veneer of outside things… We had reached the naked soul of men.” — Ernest Shackleton, South The veneer of outside things exists in polished half-truths. “I’m great. […]

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Stories for an integrated life

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