Recently, the SEC granted preliminary approval for extended around-the-clock trading hours. My clients reflected what this meant for the already fragile boundaries between work and personal life for both men and women, but especially for women.
As work becomes increasingly continuous and accessible, women leaders are expected to perform at elite levels across multiple domains simultaneously—and perfectionism becomes unsustainable.
In our rush to perform—and outperform—we often find ourselves chasing impossible standards.
Outperform our peers. Outperform competitors. Deliver stronger results quarter after quarter.
And somehow, at the same time, embody the image promoted across social media: successful executive, attentive parent, supportive partner, physically fit, emotionally present, and effortlessly balanced.
What are we left with? What is your metaphor for this?
Perhaps, it is fragments of a puzzle that does not want to come together.
A constant juggling act between career, childcare, family responsibilities, and the occasional moment of self-care squeezed into the margins of an already overcommitted day.
Many professional women know this feeling well.
The guilt of playing with your child while wondering whether you should be responding to work responsibilities.
The guilt of being deeply immersed in a project while knowing you are missing moments that matter for your family and you.
I know this because I lived it.
As a new mother and a high-performing investor covering around-the-clock emerging markets, I was an overachiever and a perfectionist. Now, I felt I was underperforming everywhere.
But working harder was not the answer. Reprimanding myself for this was not the answer either. I needed to slow down. To re-evaluate. To understand what truly mattered to me.
I gradually found a compromise with my inner critic, reclaiming energy that had previously been spent on self-judgment.
That energy became available for what actually mattered. I also began giving myself a simple gift: time to self. Not performative self-care. Not the version borrowed from Instagram, but the kind that allowed me to exhale deeply, slow down, and simply be.
What does your version of “me-time” look like?
And how does work-life balance look in your life today?
For many women, life is not a balance between two worlds. It is a triangulation between professional role, family role, and ourselves as individuals.
Too often, it is the third corner of that triangle that gets neglected.
Many accomplished women have become so skilled at carrying multiple roles that they stop noticing the personal cost until exhaustion, resentment, or burnout begins to surface.
Until something breaks.
I look in the mirror and remind myself of this when I try to push too hard. Do you?