Martha Stewart at 85 Dismisses Work-Life Balance: 'It Doesn’t Balance'

Lifestyle mogul Martha Stewart dismissed the concept of work-life balance during a conversation with financial influencer Vivian Tu, creator of the social media account "Your Rich BFF." Stewart argued that the pursuit of equilibrium is futile and urged professionals to abandon the idea entirely.

Fortune reported on the exchange on October 21, 2026, followed by Hindustan Times on October 23, 2026. Stewart, whose lifestyle empire holds an estimated net worth of $400 million, addressed the modern obsession with balancing personal and professional demands by telling her audience to accept the reality of demanding work.

What did Martha Stewart say about balance?

Martha Stewart stated, “There is no such thing as balance—just get that through your thick skulls. You can’t balance it. It doesn’t balance.”

Stewart elaborated on the topic, questioning the origin of the term and suggesting that those who achieve true balance are rare and potentially uninteresting. “This thing about balance, I don’t know who thought about that—but it just doesn’t work. Maybe infrequently—and I’m jealous of those people—but they’re also boring,” Stewart said.

Stewart’s daily routine reflects her intense work ethic. She wakes up at 4 a.m. and starts working by 7 a.m. Her expansive career spans multiple industries, including Wall Street, television, modeling, federal prison—where she served a five-month sentence ending in 2005—and an AI startup. Reflecting on her daily motivation, Stewart noted, “Why be bored? If you even feel a moment of boredom or you can’t get up for some reason—because you don’t want to face the day—that is not good.” She added, “When I get up in the morning, I have choices. I can do whatever right now; I can do anything I want to do every day, but I like being able to look forward to what’s going to happen in the day, and the surprises are also good.”

Who else shares this perspective on career focus?

Other prominent leaders have similarly rejected traditional definitions of work-life balance, pointing instead to periods of necessary imbalance.

TIAA President and CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett, the former CEO of Chase Consumer Banking, previously discussed her own struggles with equilibrium on Fortune’s Titans and Disruptors of Industry podcast. Duckett stated, “Work-life balance is a lie. It never reconciles … So get rid of that.” Reflecting on her time at JPMorgan Chase, Duckett added, “I was feeling like I was failing my husband, I was failing my children, I was failing my mom, my dad, my brothers, everyone. I was just not winning, and I needed a win.”

Similarly, former U.S. President Barack Obama addressed the topic during a podcast appearance. Fortune reported the appearance occurred last year, while Hindustan Times dated the appearance to 2025 on The Pivot Podcast. Obama remarked, “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.”

This is educational information, not legal, financial, tax, or investment advice.