We’ve all seen these types of solutions before, and we’ve all experienced the limited results of short-term thinking, which leads me to my main theme here – it’s time to think long-term, seriously long-term. I know, I’m watching the same news programs daily and scouring the paper for the next report on unemployment rates along with you… and also feel that it’s so hard to focus on the future when the present is so overwhelmingly profound. However, it’s times like these that demand for us to look at the bigger picture and imagine the forest through the trees. It’s times like these that demand us to look on the bright side and see the value in the changes we are experiencing, both nationally and on the global scale.

Here’s a few ideas to help you get going on restructuring your thinking:

• Cutting back on dining out means preparing some of your favorite home-cooked meals… call your mom for ideas! She’ll be flattered & you’ll have made one of the calls you’ve been meaning to make over the past week.
• Reducing the days of the week you go out means reducing your gas costs, getting more sleep (we all need more sleep!), and finally following through on your never-ending vows to read more fiction (okay, that’s my vow).
• Reduced 401K matching programs at work do not mean you cannot continue to save for your future. Instead, it’s an opportunity to look into a different type of retirement investment strategy, which could be more effective in our current economy.
• Staying home more often means having the time to play a long game of monopoly with the kids, or having friends over for a pot-luck & game of scrabble.
• Cutbacks at work offer an opportunity to re-vision things differently than you’ve done them before.
• Budget revisions and lack of bonuses and/or raises means a few more of your fellow employees will not need to lose their job (or their home, or their health insurance, or their dignity).

If you’re having a hard time managing a change in thinking and your evaluation of our current times, drop me an email I’m happy to help you work through a few more.

Until next time – stay hopeful, it’s the one thing we have ultimate control over.

Back in June, I read an article in The New York Times that inspired me:“Vacations Are Good for You, Medically Speaking,” (June 7, 2008). The article discusses much of what we unfortunately know. Americans are working longer hours, vacationing less, and bringing their work along with them on vacation. Despite being physically on vacation, employees answer email, call in to the office and voice mail, more often than not. And the result? In essence, all work and no play makes us tired, overworked, under-productive and plain old burnt out. Read Today’s Tip below to find out how you can change this unhealthy trend…

Guilty as Charged

Unfortunately, we just do not take enough time off – and I think those guilty as charged – feel it more in the Fall than perhaps any other time throughout the year. Why? Seasonal changes occur for a reason. Summer nights are warmer and longer, feeding our bodies more vitamin D well into the post-work hour time of day. We’re meant to be out more, socializing more, and more physically active. Fall brings that astute awareness of summer time gone. And wham! – some experience that as lost opportunity. Lost opportunity for family time, projects around the house, and whatever else is on your To-Do list.

Here’s what you can do to keep a bit of vacation throughout the year (get this, I’m telling you to add more things to your To Do List :

Get out that To Do list and schedule in the following:

• Your exercise
• Schedule in your monthly social activity with a close friend(s)
• Schedule in family movie night
• Schedule in your massage & book it NOW
• Cut out 5-15 minutes per day to reflect, set the alarm on your PDA to make sure it happens
• Schedule a day off for in between Thanksgiving and the winter holidays
• Fill in the blank ________________________________
• Sign up for a seminar or workshop to benefit YOU & the efforts you make to improve your performance & health

Coming out of the winter haze, I’ve decided to make some changes in the way I work and devote a greater portion of my coaching business to work/life balance. Not only for my own business development, but for that of my clients – the balance of personal and work life seems a never ending struggle. An enormity of the divergence within leadership development and interpersonal conflict at work appear to be related, in some way, to juggling an array of intertwining vines in life’s process. An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal (June 11, 2008, D1) reminded me of the magnitude of this problem in business culture: “Downsizing Maternity Leave: Employers Cut Pay, Time Off” focuses on the seemingly endless cutbacks of late.

There’s Always Something that can go.

Now, here’s a little personal story about my garden: As I said, I’ve been working on a personal and business pruning myself. So, on one of those lovely ‘spring has just arrived’ type of days, I set out to my garden (kids in tow) to do some much needed pruning of our shrubs and vines. In all honesty, there were many things that should have been pruned back in the Fall, but like many things in life – it got away from me and I was playing ‘catch up’ for the Spring.

The problem with playing catch-up is that things seem to get sort of mixed in and sometimes you can’t tell the difference between what needs to be pruned and what needs to be completely removed. I began snipping and chopping, I even got out the hand-saw. I came across a branch that had just wound its way entirely through the lattice fencing and seemed thorny and unruly – so chop, chop I went, and alas, it was all gone – down to a stump, sun shining through – a bright new look in the garden.

Then, my husband got home. “What happened to that great climbing vine behind the holly bush?, the one with the winter berries?!!?,” he said. Oh. I had gotten carried away, “something from within” I stated, “had possessed me to chop away and change things up a bit.” “You destroyed it,” he said. I apologized. But, in truth, I wasn’t sorry at all. I feel it looks better now – cleaner, more open, with greater new possibilities…

So, if you haven’t already done so, think about your own pruning and cutting back this season. Imagine how you would like things to be blossoming and filling out in the months to come, and remember – in order for new growth to be nurtured, there needs to be a cutting back of sorts.

Tips to Let You Know When It’s Time to Let Something Go:

• Begin thinking about what you can cut back or completely cut out of your To Do List.
• Make a list of everything you need to do this month and find at least
  • one thing to delegate
  • one thing to remove
  • one thing to put off until next month
  • one thing to say “no, I can’t” to
• Think about what emotional attachment you have to some of the items on your To-Do List.
• Acknowledge that there will be some anxiety and discomfort when you cut back, and say “no, I can’t.”
• Accept that anxiety is normal and your health is the most important thing that makes you a great employee, partner, parent, child, friend, etc.

and… be on the look out for upcoming events in your area to give you the tips & tools you need to succeed!

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.