Some years ago, I attended a Q&A session between a group of MBA students and the CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation. One of the students asked the CEO how he had managed to maintain work-life balance, given the long hours he’d invested in his career.

Without hesitation the CEO shot back, “There’s no such thing as work-life balance. If you don’t believe me, ask my ex-wife.”

I could sense an uneasy chill course through the crowd as the students began to absorb the significance of what they had just heard. Underlying the student’s question – and the CEO’s response – was the assumption that “work” and “life” are two parallel lines of human experience that never intersect and are in continual tension with each other. Work is about earning a living, and life is about living itself.

I agree with the CEO. There’s no such thing as work-life balance. As technology continues to blur the boundaries between office and home, we’re starting to realize the limitations of drawing such an artificial distinction between our lives and our work.

Our lives outside of work inform our work, and vice versa. These two domains of our experience are inextricably intertwined. They are one.

Instead of asking, “How can I achieve work-life balance,” we might be better served asking, “How can I achieve work-life alignment? How can I infuse the same sense of purpose that animates my life into the work I do and, as a result, establish a more integrated self?”