Soledad O’Brien: Keeping Work, Home Separate Is ‘Insanity’ (VIDEO)
CNN anchor, reporter and mom of four Soledad O’Brien knows the work-family juggling act well, but she doesn’t think of it as a balancing act, per se. ”I think it’s a mistake to think about your life in terms of balance,” she said. “It’s not possible to do all the things you want to accomplish and think of it in terms of balance. So I look at my life in terms of ‘what do I want to achieve?’ ‘What do I want to get to at the end?’ … and if I can squeeze them all in, I would be happy.”
Watch O’Brien talk about why we should think about work-family balance differently:
Watch: Andrea Mitchell Asks Maria Bartiromo — Can Women Have It All?
O’Brien also is involved in philanthropy. Her Soledad O’Brien and Brad Raymond Foundation provides mentoring to young women and opportunities to college and succeed.
“It’s impossible to fit all of that in 24 hours,” she says. “Some of the time you’re focused on work – if you’re covering a tsunami or you’re covering an earthquake or there’s a big story or anelection. Some of the time you’re dealing with kids … and sometimes I’m focused on what I’m doing with the foundation and making sure they’re supported. But it’s never a balance. It’s more like energy here, energy here, then energy here. Then I surround myself with people who are very supportive.”
And to those who think you can only do “home” stuff at home and “work” stuff at home, she says, “that’s insanity.”
WATCH: Anne-Marie Slaughter – Why Women Still Can’t Have it All
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Category: Career, Career Development, Videos





Great points on a different way to approach the work home balance. There are so many struggles in this area and hearing about the different wayt to look at this and evaluate your own work home blance are always beneficial to hear!