We hear a lot about work-life balance these days: from parents, colleagues and, well, anyone with a job. There seems to be this belief that work and personal life are completely separate and should be kept so through rigorous scheduling. It implies a "punching of the time clock" mentality in which a worker has set hours on the job that they happily leave behind at the end of the day.

I don’t know about you, but I have never experienced this type of employment, and increasingly, find that my work life and home life have completely melded into one another. When work is no longer confined to an office, when we are in constant contact with clients or when your colleagues are your friends, the lines become blurred - if not nonexistent. Instead, parents now bring their children to work, companies maintain virtual offices and friends start businesses together. More than ever, we are in charge of our own calendars on a daily basis, which is why scheduling down time is so important.