Book excerpt: An empowering guide that will show you how to shed the myth of the “work-life balance” by merging the seven key components that make up your life to attain harmony and whole-life success “All of us have Seven Slices in our lives: our Family Slice, our Professional Slice, our Personal Slice, our Physical Slice, our Intellectual Slice, our Emotional Slice, and our Spiritual Slice. These all need to be served in some fashion—and in serving them, they, in turn, serve us.” This relatively simple but profoundly critical concept is at the heart of the method executive coach David McNeff has used to transform the lives and careers of his clients. It begins with two important facts: 1) stress happens—you can’t avoid it; and 2) your existence is composed of far more than “work” and “life.” Too often, we divide our lives into those two general categories, but we’re all a lot more complex and our lives are richer than that. By being clear and mindful of all aspects of your life—the Seven Slices—you’ll be more likely to find inner harmony when stress impacts one of them. In The Work-Life Balance Myth, McNeff takes you on a deep dive into each of the Seven Slices, explaining the components of each Slice, signs that you may not be attending to each Slice in a healthy way, and hands-on methods for accessing an underserved Slice. The Work-Life Balance Myth won’t make your life perfect—no one can do that, and you shouldn’t trust anyone who makes that promise. What this book will do is provide you with proven new ways of framing your life, seeing stress for what it is, and vastly improving your ability to navigate the emotional challenges that will inevitably arise in a way that serves your Seven Slices.