Finding Work-Life Balance

Innumerable professionals struggle with the daily juggling of act related to balance between their work hours and their home life.  Far too often work trickles into the precious hours that are allocated to family, friends and loved ones.  In an era of hyper connectivity this challenge to find balance is even harder.

Is the solution to throw in the towel and hope that your kids understand your partial attention to their animated review of their day at school whilst you parse through your work email on that tiny 5" screen should be enough to validate them?  No!

Is it acceptable to hide your mobile in the bottom of your attaché and never attend to it outside of business hours?  For some, this is the only way they can truly enjoy their vacations and time off. 

There's no one set solution for how to balance all elements of work and personal lives - but it is a factor that a healthy business person should at least consider and put forth effort to find the mix right for him/her.  This mix has to be comfortable for the professional or it's a wasted effort.

Some will argue that as entrepreneurs they never really can leave the office behind, especially if they work from home - but, where there's a will there is a way.  The home office could be an area of a home that is set apart from common areas shared with the family, regular "office hours" could be set, mobile devices can be set aside and concerted effort made to focus on family during non "office hours." 

Again, everyone's thresh holds and benchmarks for balance will be different.  

It is a continuous process of relearning and refocusing on what matters most and then acting on that.  It is pertinent to understand what imbalance looks like and take the steps to find the mix that is best for you and yours.  

Balance today may not look like what it did last year, or even last week.  Find yours and understand its natural ebbs and flows - for your betterment, that of your family and your career.

An April Fool...

Wow, where did the month of April go? All I can recollect of the experience is the rain, rain, and more rain. I feel like a fool for not savoring the 30 days of showers that April had a bit more, for earnestly seeking the May flowers.

That thought lends itself to a conversation I recently had with my husband. We were reflecting on the fact that at times, life takes place in the details. And, if you overlook the details in pursuit of what's ahead, you may just miss some of life's greatest moments passing you by!

Were the April showers really that bad? Honestly, no. The outcome and benefits of the rain? The May flowers!

Not only does attending to the details make you stop and take pause from time to time, but it's character building as well.

Don't be an April fool and miss out on some of the greatest aspects of life for being in hot pursuit of the greener grass.

How will you make time to stop and smell the roses in the month of May?

It's not easy being green...

This is a succinct post, and I'll get right to the point. I'd like to borrow a question tweeted by @karlkellerltm earlier today. He posed to his audience: How would your life change if money were removed from the equation?

So, how would your life equation be altered; Would it level the playing field for you? Would you breath a sigh of relief? Would panic ensue?

For me, I would like to think that life would be simpler. Admittedly, I think that is easier said that actually done on my part. I'm really sitting with this idea, it renders me introspective. I think I'll let this one stew in my head for a bit. I'd like to come to the purest, most accurate conclusion.