As many of you have benefited from and know, I stand behind the belief in Life/Work balance (yes, in that order). I strive to help my clients achieve their goals in this area on a daily basis and offer workshops to help YOU get there. YET, in the middle of the 6 weeks that fall in between my kids birthdays & the accompanying party planning, putting together a fabulous new workshop, “Working Life’s Balance: Tips & Tools”, encouraging my husband to run a 1/2 Marathon (he’s working toward the full one in NYC in November!), I decide that I can absolutely make it to a conference in San Francisco, stopping in Los Angeles along the way to give a Workshop there as well.
Easier Said Than Done Back to my dilemma – the Conference & Workshop, or my health. I noticed that even without my daily dose of caffeine, I was feeling quite on edge lately and the muscles in my shoulders were beginning to feel like an intensely tied knot (I won’t even mention the back pain).
Then, riding the subway to meet a client, I realized – I am not practicing what I preach! And… I postponed the Workshop and opted out of the annual Conference. I wavered for days on my decision.
The moral of this story – it’s much easier to guide others and see the forest through the trees in others’ lives than it is in our own. So if you’re constantly thinking you’re not doing enough, rethink those thoughts – neuroscience tells us that we can retrain our thoughts to think differently. Give yourself a break, accept that sometimes we cannot ‘do it all’ and that is okay. Pick and choose your tasks wisely and create a natural ebb and flow according to your work needs and those of your family.
Tips to Let You Know When It’s Time to Let Something Go:
- Increased muscle tension
- Increased headaches
- Irritability
- Sleep disturbance
- Change in appetite, caffeine intake, alcohol intake, etc.
- Thinking to yourself “I can do this for a short time”
Here’s where you can identify areas to cut back on & make immediate changes… achieve success through enhancing work/life balance.
Your homework –
If you endorsed any of the above points – it’s time to think about taking one thing off of your plate:
- Begin by making a list of ‘Must Do’s’
- Make a list next to it of ‘Should Do’s’
- Compare the two
- Figure out at least one thing that can be moved from a ‘Must Do’ to a ‘Should Do’
- Take one thing off of the ‘Should Do’ list and make yourself a note in your calendar to review the item for attention at a future date.
- Try to move that one thing forward by days/weeks/ or even a month.
- Begin thinking about tasks that could be delegated from either list.
- Pick one to delegate starting today.
Tags: cutbacks, development, effectiveness, family time, flexible, growth, health, improvement, interpersonal, leadership, longer hours, opportunity, personal, routine, solutions, stress, work options, work/life balance, working