What if the goal isn’t balance… but flow?

Five years ago, Chris joined the pilot of Lucia Knight’s work-life redesign programme. He wasn’t in crisis. He wasn’t burned out beyond repair. But something felt off. And instead of ignoring that stuckness, he chose to investigate it.

Today, he shares the three insights he never wants to forget about his future work life.

They’re simple. They’re powerful. And they’re the kind of truths that change how you design everything — from your diary to your relationships to the way you define success.

This is a conversation about experimentation, clarity, appreciation, and that unmistakable full-body “tingle” you feel when work finally fits.

What You’ll Sit With

1. The difference between chasing balance and creating work-life flow
2. Why “everything is an experiment” removes the fear of getting it wrong
3. The kind of appreciation that makes work deeply satisfying
4. What it feels like when work aligns with your Superpowers
5. How small experiments can quietly dismantle stuckness

If this conversation resonates with someone who’s quietly questioning their version of success — someone who’s successful on paper but sensing a deeper misalignment — consider sharing it with them.

And if you’re ready to design work that matters, you can explore the ways to work with Lucia here: https://www.midlifeunstuck.com/work-with-me

Learn more about Chris's work here: www.brightrisephotography.co.uk

Hi, I'm Lucia Knight and this is the Joy At Work Podcast.

Today I'm joined by one of my former clients, someone who, like so many

of us, had a moment of weight.

Is this what work is supposed to feel like?

And instead of brushing it off and cracking on, they paused and they chose

to design their work life differently.

I've asked each guest to share the three most important insights they

learned about their future work life that they never ever want to forget.

And these aren't just light reflections.

They're the result of three, six, or 12 months of deep work together, and now

they're in a position to capture those timeless notes to their future selves.

For some saying yes to my invitation, took a little bravery.

A lot of what I call powerful vulnerability.

Some had to dig deep because they really value their privacy.

Some said yes because they understood the potential power of having a

touch point to return to every year.

But mostly they said yes as an act of kindness gifted to me and to you.

Let's dive in.

Chris, I am so curious.

What is the very first thing that you never, ever want to forget

about your future work life.

So after a lot of thought I'm not looking to achieve a work-life balance.

I am looking for a work-life flow.

So this is very much about work and not work, finding a natural balance.

And so I don't have to consider them as being separate different entities, but as

a kind of fluid partnership of the two.

So I don't want to have to treat them as different things because if I'm

enjoying work as I should be enjoying work and finding it fulfilling,

then it should just fit perfectly into the natural whole of my life.

Yes.

and I think if something isn't working, if something doesn't

fit into that way of being, then I either change it or I drop it.

I don't lose sleep over it

So you are literally designing all the time.

So new things can come in, but if they don't fit, they come out.

Exactly that.

It's a constant assessment of every little thing.

Does it fit into how I want to be and feel?

And if it doesn't, then it changes or it goes, it.

There's no hanging about with it.

you sound as if you're very clear about how you want to be and feel.

Because I've achieved what I wanted to be and feel.

Now, I couldn't have told you necessarily upfront, verbally, what

that was, but having been through the process of exploring with you and with

within myself, what I'm about, and how I've now arrived at somewhere that I

find to be working perfectly for me.

I can then analyze that retrospectively and say, yes, this is the process

that I have adopted, partly through design and partly through just trial

and error, and that works for me.

Lovely, Lovely, Okay, so what is the second thing that you never

want to forget about your work life?

So the second thing is that variety really is the spice of my working life.

I've always got been the sort of person that gets bored easily,

and I need fresh challenge.

I work best when looking for a solution to a particular problem.

Or streamlining something to make it work better or making

something better for someone else.

Yeah.

And I'll do it once.

I'll possibly do it twice, and by the third time, if

it's too similar, I'm bored.

And at the point that I'm bored, I lose the energy, I lose the drive, and I,

I will basically just get lax with it and it doesn't do anyone any favors.

So I need a variety of projects, types of work different people interactions.

To keep me energized and driven and performing best for myself

and those that I'm working for.

And it doesn't particularly matter what the problems are that I'm

dealing with so long as they're challenging, varied and fresh.

And as one of the things that you taught me and that we talked about

a lot that resonated a lot was that everything is an experiment.

So there isn't a failure state.

So I'm always open to new opportunities and I very rarely say no.

Because you're always experimenting.

Does this work?

Does this

feel good?

Because I'm always experimenting.

You learn from your failures.

I don't consider them failures, but if it doesn't work out to a state that

you wanted it to, you learn from that.

You can analyze and make yourself better.

You can determine that actually the experiment wasn't one you wanted to

repeat anyway, so you won't do that again.

You can just evolve in a controlled way.

So that's what I'm all about now is the variety of experimentation

the, does it work for me?

Fabulous.

Okay.

Now, what's the very final thing that you never want to

forget in your future work life?

You know me, so this probably won't come as a surprise, but it's

that the people really matter.

It's all point number three is all about the people I work

for and the people I work with.

And I need to be working for people who care about what I'm doing for

them, like properly care, not just a target on a board, not just a

financial achievement for a director.

I wanna be working for people who clearly show that what I've done for them has

enhanced their life in some way or giving them something that gives them

pleasure I don't know, just you get a view of someone that you really have

done something that they appreciated in the eyes and the body language that

you can't get from a job that isn't for someone that's feeling like that.

And as long as I have that, it's a really key component to how fulfilled

and pleased I am to be doing the job.

I, and that's always been, I know we've known each other

for a long time, but that's always been one of your core drivers, so it's

fabulous that you find a way to make that work for you and fresh people.

So my very final question is, when you get to do work that allows you to

feel that perfect level of work life flow for you, and you get to work on

fresh, new problems for people who really care about the work that you're

doing for them, how does that feel?

I am a music lover.

We would've spoken about this at some point with way distant past.

But for me, there's a feeling that I get when I listen to a beautiful piece

of music and it's a whole body, it's a tingling in the back of the neck.

It's a sort of an uplift.

And that's the feeling that I get in some way when all of those three things

and others that when all those three things are present in what I'm doing

and there's nothing else like it.

Wow.

I just got tingles.

Designing Work That Gives You Tingles

Chris holds a special place in my heart because five years ago

he was one of the very first.

12 people in the world who trusted me enough to join the pilot of my

six week work life redesign program.

That program became the Fierce Accelerator and it mixes online

learning, small group training, and dedicated one-to-one time with me.

Designed to help you make real change without burning your life down.

You'll find details in the show notes of the three ways you can work with me

so that you can choose what fits your appetite for change, how quickly you want

to feel momentum, and yeah, your budget so that you can design work you might

enjoy for as long as you choose to work.