Everything in life requires that you make trade-offs. If you believe that your work comes after your personal life, you are trading off the results you need to provide the best life possible for you and the people you care about. If you believe that your personal life comes after work, you will neglect the most important people in your life.
So people talk about work-life balance, meaning they want to prefer their personal life over their work life. They don’t want work to overtake in importance things like friends, family, and experiences. This isn't balance; it's preferring your personal life over your work. This isn’t only the wrong answer, it’s the wrong question. The right question is “How can I have an exceptional work life AND an exceptional personal life?”
Without exceptional work, you will be less fulfilled than you should be. You are here for some purpose, to make some contribution, to make a difference in some way.
Without an exceptional life, there is no reason to work. There is no reason to work if doing so deprives you of all of the experiences that make a up a happy and fulfilled life. The more fulfilled you are in your personal life, the more you bring your best self to your work.
Instead of believing that work comes before everything else or that everything else comes before work, start with idea that you are designing an exceptional life. You want an exceptional personal life AND an exceptional work life. After all, they’re both important parts of your one life.