The Balancing Act

Times are tough. Businesses are faltering, families are struggling, employees are paranoid.

All this stress lays the groundwork for a real problem with balance—life balance.

As business leaders work 18 to 20 hours a day to save their businesses and workers address their fears of possible layoff by working longer and harder, they risk the ability to be the best they can be by allowing themselves to throw their life balance out the window. They pay less attention to what is truly important, such as their families, recreation and their health, justifying it as a short term imbalance. Unfortunately, these short term imbalances can turn into long term habits.

The reality is that balance energizes the ability to do good work. People with a balanced lifestyle can generally give their best at work. So, how about you?

Following are some categories where we should look for balance and some questions to ask yourself about to rate how balanced you are in each.

Family: Are you enjoying your family time? Are you spending the time you want with your family? Do you make space for quality time with your loved ones?

Spouse/Significant Other: How mutually satisfying is your relationship? Is it as enjoyable as you want? Do you make time for each other?

Friends: Are you staying in touch with your friends? Are your friendships satisfying to you?

Health: Are you in the physical shape you want? Do you eat a healthy diet? Do you get enough sleep?

Emotional Fitness: Are you emotionally grounded? Do you minimize stress? Do you manage your attitude? Are you positive?

Finances: Are your finances in order? Do you have liquid reserves? Are you managing your spending?

Purpose/Goals: Do you have a sense of purpose or a mission? Are you working on the legacy you want to leave? Have you written short, medium, and long-term goals?

Intellect/Creativity: Are you intellectually stimulated? Are you keeping your brain challenged? Are you feeding your need for creativity and curiosity?

Career: How satisfied are you with your career? Do you enjoy your work? Do you look forward to it? Is your career filling your intellectual and financial needs?

Recreation/Fun: Do you have fun? Do you participate in enjoyable recreational activities? Do your hobbies re-energize you?

Community/Voluntarism: Do you give back to your community? Do you volunteer in areas that meaningful to you? Do you participate in community activities?

After you’ve rated each of the balance attributes, you may see some areas that you’ll want to enhance. Here are some suggestions on how to make the best of this exercise:

Write down specific goals that relate to the attributes you want to balance. As an example, instead of writing, “I want to lose weight,” a more effective goal is “I will lose 15 pounds by May 1.”

Eliminate stuff. One of your actions or goals may be to eliminate some of the activities you are currently doing so that you can make space for what is important. Many times we end up just adding more and more and more to our plates, rather than taking anything away. Part of this exercise is to have you evaluate what you ARE doing that is not adding to your life balance, then eliminate it.

Keep your goals present. Don’t just write them and put them in a file; put them where you can see them often—on a bulletin board, in your PDA, in your day planner.

Share your goals. Let those close to you know what you’re working on. This action can not only motivate you but will give you accountability partners who care about you.

Finally, do weekly reviews. At roughly the same time each week, review how well you balanced the prior week.