I agree. Why shouldn't you? I've never heard anyone say "I wish I'd put more time and effort into work". I -have- heard "I wish I was paid more", and if effort equates to that (from all observations of my career, I remain unconvinced) I can see that changing your minimum (i.e., from "minimum required to not get fired" to "minimum required to get to the next level"), but going above and beyond that minimum doesn't extrinsically affect you. So if intrinsically you value 'life' more than 'work' there...better to take that time/effort and put it into life.
This article just made it clear how ephemeral work meaning is, and how important life meaning is, and how important it is to subjugate the former to the latter. Which I agree, seems at odds with the title.
Indeed. If we assume "work" is doing something you wouldn't otherwise do, then absolutely, you should be asking that question. And for most people, that's likely true of almost any employment.
If we assume the following premise from the article is true...
> The only way balancing is going to be easy is if one or the other side isn’t worth much, and that would be a shame.
The article makes a much more compelling case that the life side is worth quite a lot, and the work side isn't worth much... Meaning work/life balance should be easy.