Work-Life Balance |
Work-Life Balance: Vision Required
1,800,000,000
That’s the number of results that come up when I Googled Work-Life Balance.
Dayyy-yum.
Clearly, A LOT of people are working on their Work-Life Balance.
How about you? Have you ever searched Google for some guidance, wisdom, and (or most of all) clarity on how to gain control of all the moving pieces of your life?
Let’s admit, the secret to success isn’t working harder and producing more. The law of diminishing return comes into play, and we wind up working more hours with less to show for it. Not exactly the result we’re looking to achieve.
When we come from the perspective of constantly needing to work harder, it leaves us feeling like there’s never enough time, or worse, that we’re not enough.
As a result, we can become consumed by scarcity- not enough time, money, support, tools, sleep, love, etc.- and we can quickly lose our perspective of the woman we want to be, the business we want to build, the life we want to live and the relationships we desire.
Too often our motivation for action is to feel the relief of checking things off our endless to-do list rather than focusing on our long-term vision of what we want; making sure our actions and words are aligned with our vision for work-life balance.
So many women I speak with want to feel like they’re intentionally choosing their life, instead of continually reacting to it.
They want work-life balance but don’t know how to achieve it.
Can you relate?
If we’re playing whack-a-mole all day, totally overloaded and overwhelmed, then go home to more juggling and feeling depleted, it’s nearly impossible to think about the future, or create more joy, fulfillment, ease, and ‘balance’ in our life.
And here’s the big kicker, our thoughts and images of the future, affect the future we experience.
So, I ask you, what is your vision of a fulfilling life? Again, your VISION for your future will affect the future you experience.
Do you want to feel more empowered, like you’re choosing your life, and less at the mercy of circumstances and other people’s expectations, needs, or demands?
If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you’ve heard me talk (a lot) about the importance of having a compelling vision for the business you want.
For us to create the business of our dreams, we need to be crystal clear in our vision of what we want our business to look like. To feel like. To provide. To BE.
Working to achieve balance in our lives is no different.
A long-term vision helps us with short-term decision making for Work-Life Balance.
This vision helps us so that we can say ‘YES” to more of what we want and ‘NO’ to what’s keeping us out of balance.
Far too often we say yes to ‘more’ in our lives without making room for it by saying ‘NO’ to something else.
These choices lead to a life out of balance.
Now, I’ll admit, I think balance is a fallacy. I’ll even go so far as to say it’s bullshit.
But clearly, work-life balance is what people are searching for…1,800,000,000, no arguing with that number.
Though I will say, I’ve yet to work with a woman who wants all of the pieces of her life to weigh the same.
It’s not about making everything even; it’s about aligning our actions, thoughts, and priorities with our Vision of a truly fulfilling, intentional life.
Intentionally choosing aligned actions, words, and beliefs, moment to moment, is what will consistently move you closer to your vision so that you can achieve the work-life balance you seek.
Keep in mind as you start moving towards aligning your actions with your desires, old habits die hard, as do old beliefs, stories, and way of relating, or reacting, to others.
As you move from your old habits into a more aligned and empowered way of being, you’ll feel a strong pull back to the familiar when things get uncomfortable (for example, saying no to a really cool opportunity because you realize it’s actually taking your eye, and precious time, off your goals).
It takes a while to embed new habits into daily practice so have some compassion for yourself along the way. With each new choice, opportunity, or request, ask yourself:
WTF?
That is, ask yourself What’s The Function of my goal, action, belief, choice that’s in front of me? Is it adding to my vision of work-life alignment, or is it pulling me away?
Here’s a work-life balance activity that will help you align your actions so that you can achieve your vision:
Alignment Activity for Work-Life Balance: AKA Work-Life Alignment
If you don’t clearly define what work-life balance looks like for you, odds are you won’t achieve it.
Take some time to get clear in these four areas:
- Define your Vision of what ‘balance’ is for you in each, work and ‘life.’
- Get clear on what your non-negotiables are in each.
- Understand the trade-offs that will come with the changes required as you align your actions, beliefs, and goals to your vision.
- Prioritize. Prioritize. Prioritize.
Prioritize your vision for Work-Life Balance or chances are, it won’t happen.
Remember, your images of the future affect your future experience. Be sure to define the vision and images you want or someone else will define them for you.
If you know of anyone who is seeking (or has Googled…) work-life balance, please feel free to forward this email to them. And if you found this helpful, please share.
Values |
Knowing Your Values
As Oscar Hammerstein II wrote in the musical South Pacific:
“You got to have a dream. If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?”
In my last blog, I shared three tips to help you with your priority management so that you can confidently move towards your dream.
Want to know the rocket fuel for consistently staying focused on your priorities, and hence, make your dream come true?
Know Your Values
I know, I know…not so sexy but hear me out.
Clarifying your values is a way to create a map that will guide you along the decisions in your life…so that at the end of your day, there’s more life to your day.
In other words: values help you put your priorities first so that you stop ‘shoulding’ all over yourself, unhook from what others think and intentionally create a life & business that allows you to thrive, not just survive.
Now THAT’S SEXY, right?
Yeah, I thought so.
Values are present in or absent from the choices you make each day.
An instructor once said to me, “Show me your calendar and checkbook, and I’ll show you what’s important to you.”
No arguing that one.
I tried.
Living your values means being true to and authentic to yourself. No easy feat these days with perfectionism, having it all and looking fabulous while doing it is a common expectation.
There will be times you’ll feel some discomfort as you lean into and honor your values (choosing to follow your values, unapologetically, will most certainly upset the status quo), but it will pass and a sense of integrity & congruency will ignite your fire within as you expand into your dream.
Do you know your values?
Here’s a ‘short-list’ of Values to look at, think over, and see if they ‘fit.’
Here are a couple of examples of values in action:
- If you value respect for others, you’re more apt to instill self-control when you’re stressed or under pressure from a deadline, instead of snapping at an employee (or family member)
- If you hold integrity as a value, you’ll more likely take responsibility for a mistake even if it means receiving criticism.
Check out the list above and choose 3-5 values. Keep in mind that you can often have groupings of values that will go under one main value. If you want more of a selection, check out Brene Brown’s list of values from her most recent book, ‘Dare to Lead.’
Ready to put them into action?
Alignment Activity for Values:
Set aside some time to journal on these questions after clarifying each of your values. Go over each one individually and ask yourself:
- Where is this value showing up in my life?
- How am I honoring this value each day?
- How do I embody this value in my choices and actions each day? (Example: if I were congruent with my value of self-care, I would make to schedule time with my girlfriends who feed my soul.)
Keep track weekly or monthly with how you’re honoring each of these values, on a scale of 1-10 (ten being the most) and what the obstacles are that are getting in the way.
Clarity is key…with clarity comes awareness. With awareness comes better choices, with better choices comes…better results.
Could you use some help honing your values? I offer a mini-intensive to help women clarify their values and create a plan for how to live them every day. Let’s chat! You can book a time to connect with me here.
Time Management |
Time Management
As a business strategist, one of the struggles I hear most often is the topic of time management.
Has this statement ever rolled off your lips?
“I need to be better at time management.”
Here’s the thing, time management isn’t the issue.
It’s your priority management.
Are you prioritizing your schedule, or scheduling your priorities?
If you
schedule your priorities, your goals are much easier (and faster) to attain. If you prioritize your schedule, you may have a great schedule, but it’s less likely you’ll achieve your
goals.
Here’s a quick video where I share three strategies for how to get clear on your priorities so you can create a
plan of action that will work for you.
We all have 24 hours in a day. It’s how we manage those moments and hours within the day so that we can achieve what we want and still have time AND energy at the end of the day.
These 3 tips will help you shift your thoughts about time management so you can achieve all that you want and still have a life and have energy at the end of the day.
- Clarity. Be sure to have crystal clarity about exactly what it is you want. When your business is fully ‘cooked’, what does it look like? Where do you need to be at the end of the year for you to feel you’re moving closer to your goals? And even more, who do you need to be to make that happen?
- Skills. What are the skills you need to augment or acquire to create the success you want? The skills that have gotten you to where you are now won’t be enough to take you to the next level.
- Prioritizing. I cannot stress this enough. Taking the time to prioritize your vision and defining the skills you’ll need, will allow you to take what’s is important and place these action items on the front burner and place the urgent items on the back burner. No more whack-a-mole all day long.
Knowing your priorities helps you not only leave your time management struggles behind but also enables you to create structure and freedom throughout your day.
If you need help with your goal and priority setting, feel free to comment below and let me know what’s going on for you. I’ll personally get back to you with ideas to help you gain focus and traction!
Priority management over time management will give you your compass
Culture |
Creating a High-Performance Team
If you lead a team, are a part of a team, or want to increase your personal performance, here are the 5-main areas I’ve learned as a 27-year, five-time business owner that support us in working collaboratively, finding our creativity and increasing our performance.
1. Vision & Values: A Must For A High-Performance Team
Vision: Clarity precedes awareness, and awareness precedes making better choices.
Establishing a clear vision of where you want to go and grow your business or career is how you’ll know what to focus on, when, and WHY.
So often we feel we don’t have the ‘luxury’ to slow down and make sure where we’re heading is in fact, where we want to go. If you don’t know where you’re heading, how will you know what to focus on? How will you know what to have your teams focus on?
Values: Our Vision is where we’re heading. Our Values are what help us to get there.
Choose five specific values that embody the essence of the business or career you’re building. Take a look at where your values are present in, or absent from, your choices and direction of your business or career (…and relationships).
Ask yourself, how do you embody these value in your choices and actions each day?
Values hold us to a different standard for managing our time and achieving our vision.
2.Culture & Leadership: The Fuel For A High-Performance Team
An interesting statistic: 75% of employees say their boss is the most stressful part of their job. According to Gallup, people leave bosses, not companies (unless the company is promoting that type of leadership).
How you lead your team will impact their productivity, collaboration, innovation, and your bottom line.
Be clear on the culture and leadership style in your business. If you don’t understand your own culture, how will you know how to hire the right people to fit into it?
3. Time & Energy Management
So many people come to me saying they have difficulty managing their time. I’d say it’s right up there in the top 1-3 struggles that trip most people up on their way to success (..to be clear, success according to what it is for them, not what others need, expect or want for/from them).
I say it’s not time management; it’s priority management. We cannot go horizontal and vertical at the same time. If you have more than 1 or 2 priorities, you don’t have priorities; you have a to-do list (one that is probably not closely aligned with specific goals or your vision).
Having a clear vision helps you cut away the non-essentials and focus on your long-term vision which will minimize ‘issues’ with time management.
Be aware of how your energy is impacting your team, your clients, your environment in your business…and adjust accordingly.
4. Systems & Quantification
It’s about creating a well-oiled machine, not reinventing the wheel. Establish systems around what you repeatedly do so you can focus on what it takes to achieve your vision, and not feel like it’s Groundhog Day…again.
Once you have your systems in place, you can then quantify your efforts. Is that marketing strategy you have in place working, is there a glitch somewhere in the implementation of it? Does the system for onboarding new clients work efficiently, or is it missing a step?
5. Accountability & Implementation
Accountability is something many of my clients want (and need). Someone to hold their vision up for them to see, and keep directing them back to it with each choice.
Here’s the thing, we’re more apt to let ourselves down, but we are far less likely to let our team down.
Working together, collaborating, inviting conversation…moving out of our silos and into a community that supports us and holds us accountable to our vision, and the vision of the team is what motivates us to get into action, implement, succeed, and support each other.
One more thing, keep the Law of Linkage in mind…link ALL your choices, actions, and communication back to your vision and values of who you want to be and the business or career you desire to build, and you won’t go wrong.
I’d love to hear from you. What supports you in creating a high-performance team? Could you use some help clarifying your vision, establishing your culture and leading your team? Let’s set up a time to chat, I’d love to support you. Click Here to schedule a Clarity Call.
