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22 June 2025

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Hey friend,

I've been doing the sprint/rest work style for a few years now and I honestly cannot imagine going back to what I was doing before. Hours of slow painful grind. With little progress and constant feelings of dread.

Some Thoughts

Bulgarian weightlifting coach Ivan Abadjiev used to say "don't be too self-confident". I am trying to take a moment to pause before being too self confident. Too sure that I am correct in my thinking. Even on things where I am very experienced.

What you will learn this week:

☀️ The difference between balance and integration.

🌍 Measuring productivity isn't measuring success.

🍄 BONUS - Fewer rigid rules.

Work-Life Integration is the new Work-Life Balance

What exactly is work-life integration?

I believe work-life integration is replacing the traditional concept of work-life balance.

For years, we’ve been taught to keep work and life separate; as if they are two things that must never overlap. The advice has always been to switch off from work at a set time and switch on to life after that.

While this approach is valid, it’s also increasingly unrealistic.

We live in a time where we work remotely, travel frequently, and complete tasks from cafés, restaurants, home offices, and co-working spaces. We share work updates with our friends and family, and life updates with our colleagues.

Keeping everything separate is tough.

So rather than striving for balance, which implies a rigid division, I prefer the idea of integration.

I don’t remember where I first heard the term work-life integration, but it resonated with me because it reflects the reality of how we work today. Instead of treating work and life as opposing forces, integration allows us to blend them in a way that makes sense for us.

The Shift from Balance to Integration

With work-life integration, you don’t have to feel guilty about thinking about work in the evenings after your kids have gone to bed. Likewise, you can spend a weekday morning with friends if your schedule allows it.

...

You might enjoy this:

Postscript

You may or may not know, but I've been doing a bit of vibe coding. Which is a term I absolutely love. But the good people at Lovable sent me some bonus credits and I decided to make a pretty useful tool. It allows you to enter your experience and then re-writes it as a professional project manager might. Have a look here and let me know if you like it.

Until next time,

Jonathan (The Effective Project Manager)

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