Quit Trying to Solve for Work-Life Balance
Do you know how many results come back when you do a Google search on “work-life balance”? I just did one and the answer is 176 million. That’s an awful lot of discussion on a problem that no one has really solved. You could keep trying to solve for work-life balance or you could try to solve for something else that is more attainable, accessible and would likely make a bigger difference for you anyway.
What if you started focusing instead on how you are when you’re at your best? The self-knowledge you’d gain from really considering how you are at your best might be enough by itself to make it worth the time. What kind of outcomes would you generate in the big arenas of your life – home, work and community – if you showed up at your best more often? They’d likely be better. What are the easy-to-do, likely to make a difference routines – physical, mental, relational, spiritual – that you need in your life to show up at your best? On the premise that something is better than nothing, how could you capture a little bit of the benefit of those routines even on the days when your work-life balance couldn’t be more out of whack?
Those are all questions I take on and offer advice on in my latest column for Fast Company magazine. The article is a basic introduction to how to use our Life GPS® personal planning tool. It’s already been social-shared more than 1,400 times. Chances are there’s something in there that will help you show up at your best more often. Take a look and let me know what worked for you.
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