Barack Obama says work-life balance isn’t real for successful people

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Former President Obama says you can’t have it all—at least not at once.

If finding success in your career is on your bucket list, you might need to get used to working lunches and staying past 5 p.m. That’s, at least, according to former President Barack Obama, who revealed that achieving proper work–life balance will not always be possible.

“If you want to be excellent at anything—sports, music, business, politics—there’s going to be times of your life when you’re out of balance, where you’re just working and you’re single-minded,” he admitted on The Pivot Podcast in 2024.

The 65-year-old said when he first ran for president, he was on the constant grind for over a year and a half. While he said he would take some breaks during the weekends, his wife, Michelle, was largely left picking up the slack at home, like taking care of the kids, even while she had a full-time job of her own.

Though the time away from his family led to two terms in the White House, Obama admitted it wasn’t sustainable. As president, he set a rule where he had family dinner every night at 6:30 p.m.—even if he had to go back to work later. And while some leaders might think it takes away valuable work time, he said the opportunity to decompress with family was actually incredibly impactful.

“They ground you and give you perspective, and over time, that makes you better,” he said.

Even as a former president, Obama said his political accomplishments—what kept him away from his family—won’t be what he remembers at the end of life. Instead, it’ll be the love and memories he had with his children.

“I don’t think there’s a perfect formula,” he said at an Obama Foundation event in 2019. “I think it starts with recognizing that on my deathbed, I am confident that I will not remember any bill I passed, I will not remember any speech I gave, any big crowds.”

That’s not to say career aspirations are not important, he said, it just means the level of commitment someone can give to their work all depends on what life is like at home—and vice versa.

“There will be phases in your life…

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