Issue #18 Calendar Full. Soul Empty.

July 22, 2025

💌 From the Editor’s Desk

Welcome back to Work In Progmess — where inbox zero is a myth, and work-life balance is just a Pinterest board you saved in 2017.

This week, we examine the great lie of modern leadership: that you can "balance" it all.
Spoiler alert: You can’t.
But you can get aligned. Which is kind of like balance… but without the burnout, the guilt, or the need for a color-coded bullet journal.

— The Mess

📰Headline Shocker

LEADER ATTEMPTS WORK-LIFE BALANCE, ENDS UP MAKING “CALM” A SECOND JOB

Wakes Up at 5am for Gratitude Yoga, Forgets Why She's Grateful

SEATTLE, WA — Corporate director and part-time Zen enthusiast Melissa Jenkins reportedly tried to “rebalance her life” last month after reading a LinkedIn post about how “successful people schedule time to do nothing.”

She immediately began waking at 5:00am, drinking lemon water, meditating, journaling, breathworking, inner-child healing, strength training, and scanning her email — all before her 8:30am “Sync Sync.”

“My mornings are really intentional now,” said Jenkins, while chugging matcha and visibly twitching. “I spend the first 90 minutes of my day working on me — and the next 11 hours recovering from it.”

Sources confirm she also purchased three different planners, two habit trackers, and a Stillness Candle™ that smells like eucalyptus and emotional repression.

By week three, she hit a wall.

“I realized I wasn’t balancing anything — I was performing productivity in wellness drag,” Jenkins confessed. “My calendar was beautiful. My cortisol was horrifying.”

She has since replaced the word balance with alignment and now evaluates tasks based on whether they serve her core values, not just her anxiety.

She has also stopped pretending her 7pm Zoom call is “soul-filling.”

🪑 From The Editor’s Desk

Balance Is For Gymnasts. Alignment Is For Grownups.

Let’s just say it: Balance is a scam.

It’s a marketing concept. A corporate coping mechanism. The professional equivalent of “having it all” — but now with mindfulness apps and overpriced journals.

What actually works? Alignment.

When your values, energy, and priorities all point in the same direction — things flow.

You stop juggling and start choosing.
You stop reacting and start designing your vibe. (Yes, we said it.)

So no, you don’t need a fancier calendar. You need a filter.

Ask yourself:

Does this task align with who I say I want to be? Do my habits reflect the story I’m trying to live? Is this meeting necessary, or am I just afraid to be alone with my thoughts?

You don’t need “balance.” You need a compass. (And maybe a nap.)

📩Until Next Time…

Forward this to someone who thinks work-life balance means answering Slack in the bath.
And remind them: if your nervous system is fried, your “priorities” don’t matter.

Design the life, then let the calendar follow.

— The Progmess Editorial Team

🔗 Bitter End

Still trying to “balance it all”? Try this instead: ask if it aligns.

Alignment isn’t about cramming more in — it’s about stripping away what doesn’t fit.
Balance says: Do everything.
Alignment asks: Why are you doing any of this?

For inspiration, here’s Nate Bargatze explaining his experience at Career Day, where nothing aligned — and that’s kind of the point.

🎥 “Career Day was interesting | Nate Bargatze” – 3 mins

No plan. No prep. Just presence.
Which, honestly, might be the best definition of alignment we’ve got.

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