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When you pause to notice where your focus actually goes on a daily basis, not where you think it should go, but where your time and energy are really being spent, you may notice something uncomfortable.

Things feel unbalanced. Fragmented.

Despite good intentions and an ever-growing to-do list, your attention keeps getting pulled in multiple directions. Progress feels slower than you hoped. Not just in your work, but in the parts of life that matter just as much and receive far less space.

The reaction is often immediate and familiar.

Guilt. Shame.

You start wondering how things became so unbalanced in the first place and what you need to fix to finally achieve the goal of “work-life balance.”

This is where many creators quietly turn that frustration inward. If balance is the goal and you are not achieving it, the conclusion feels obvious.

You must be doing something wrong.

What often goes unquestioned is whether balance is actually the right frame for the kind of life and work you are trying to build.

Before we talk about solutions or systems, it is worth slowing down and examining the model itself. Because there is another way to think about how the different areas of your life relate to one another. One that is more flexible, more realistic, and far more compassionate to the realities of creative work.

That lens is coherence.

Coherence is a flexible way of understanding how the different areas of your life relate to one another.

Rather than treating each domain as something to manage in isolation, coherence focuses on the connections between them. When those connections are intentional, the parts of your life begin to support one another instead of competing for attention.

This is where something new can emerge. Not because everything is balanced, but because the whole is working together in a way that makes sense for you in the present moment.

Let’s explore what coherence really means and why it offers a more useful orientation than trying to keep everything in perfect balance.

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Working Toward Coherence in Practice

One of the most freeing aspects of coherence is that it releases you from the idea that every area of your life needs equal attention at all times.

Coherence does not mean everything gets the same share of your time, energy, or focus. It means the way you are distributing those resources makes sense in context.

Balance is one possible configuration. It is not the goal.

When you are working toward coherence, there will be days, weeks, and entire seasons that are intentionally imbalanced. Periods where work needs to dominate. Times when wellness has to take precedence. Moments where relationships or recovery require far more space than usual.

A week that is seventy percent work is not a problem if it is named and chosen.

A stretch focused heavily on wellness is not a failure if it is understood and owned.

Friction tends to appear when there is an unspoken expectation that things should look different. When lived reality is measured against an idealized distribution you never consciously agreed to.

Another way to think about coherence is like an equalizer on a sound system.

Each domain of your life is a dial. There are moments when you want a relatively even mix. There are others when you intentionally turn one dial way up. You might boost the bass for a while. You might pull everything else back so one channel can carry the signal.

The point is not to keep every dial in the same position.

The point is to know what you are adjusting and why.

There are also times when the choice does not feel fully yours. Job demands. Financial pressure. Caregiving responsibilities. These constraints are real. Coherence does not deny them.

If external demands are consuming nearly all of your available resources, working toward coherence becomes an opportunity to name the reality. Make small adjustments where possible and design toward something more sustainable over time.

Adjusting the Mix with Intention

I saw this clearly in my early twenties when I was trying to make it as a photographer.

My distribution of time and energy was heavily skewed.
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If I was to map what I was doing into the domain system I teach now I would estimate that 85% of my time and effort was focused on "Work", 10% on "Wellness" (mostly fitness), 8% on "Play", and 2% on "Relationships".

3-4 hours per day 6-7 days a week in the darkroom was common.

It was an incredibly productive and focused creative period in my life. I was making strong work consistently. I was even starting to get external recognition.

It was also incredibly lonely.

Even as someone who is as hyper-introverted as myself and who leveraged the art making process as a shortcut to flow, I started to realize it was too much.

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To try and increase coherence I consciously made small, intentional changes in my life to increase opportunities for connection with others, mostly by spending more time in New York City with peers and other artists.

Unexpectedly, that increased focus on relationships and connection made me a stronger artist. As my coherence increased the focus on relationships had a direct positive effect on my creative growth.
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Building relationships with my peers expanded my thinking, exposed me to new ideas, and forced me out of my sweet dark and chemical filled comfort zone.
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A small shift in focus towards relationships strengthened my work in ways that ten-hour days alone in the darkroom never could.

Choosing Coherence as a Living System

Perfect balance can feel like the answer when things are messy. If everything were evenly distributed, things would finally feel whole and complete and centered.

The trouble is that even when balance is achieved, it is fragile. It depends on conditions staying stable. It assumes your energy, responsibilities, and present context will cooperate.

They rarely do.

Coherence offers a different orientation.

It does not require things to stay even. It does not assume stability. It creates space to notice what matters now and to respond with intention rather than pressure or false perceptions of perfect balance.

If things feel uneven right now, that may not be a sign that something is broken. It may be an invitation to listen more closely and intentionally adjust with awareness rather than judgment.

Have a wonderful and coherent week,
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Jeff