Category Archive: Work Life Integration

Weisure Lifestyle

Posted by on May 26, 2009

Welcome to the latest new term to describe the tension that exist between life and work balance.  According to Dalton Conley a New York University sociologist, “increasingly it’s not clear what constitutes work and what constitutes fun time.”  You can read the entire article on CNN.com/living.

More and more people are using their smart phones and other technology to keep up with their 24-7 lifestyle that keeps them in almost constant contact with others.  At one minute we may be quote at work and receive a text message about last night’s game and then later while at quote home get an important email on major project.

It’s one thing to watch a fellow employee scroll through email during a meeting you are attending but now to see the same thing happening during the evening meal is a little harder to swallow.

Apple is probably not going to come up with an app that will schedule time everyday to unplug from all the information that is available to spend time with people who really matter in your life.  We are going to have to discipline ourselves to set some boundaries so that we can have the time we need to wind down and even quietly think without interruption.

Technology can be an incredibly good thing if we use it as a tool to improve our lives.  If we let it though it can easily change from a means to the end into the end itself and when it does that we all lose.

 

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Circle of Influence

Posted by on May 19, 2009

Several years ago Stephen Covey wrote one of the all time best selling leadership books The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. It is a book that I have read several times and refer to often.

The first habit in the book is to be proactive and take responsibility for leading our own lives.  He writes, “It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives.  Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.  We can subordinate feelings to values.”

One of the most practical tips for doing this on a daily basis is what he calls the circle of concern in our lives vs. the circle of influence.  The circle of concern represents all the things we really care about but have no control over to change the outcome.  If we are not careful we can spend most of our day here with nothing to show for all the emotional effort.

The circle of influence though contains all the things that are important to us as well but we do have the ability to control the outcome.  When we focus on what we cannot control during the day that just means there were many things that should and could be done that were not.

The amazing thing about this principle is that the more you prioritize the things you can do and start accomplishing them the things you cannot control proportionally diminish in their importance. 

When we are doing the things we know we should do it not only allows us to  accomplish something but it also gives us the needed perspective to deal with all the things that are beyond our control.

To quote another Covey principle:  WIN WIN

 

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How Much Is Enough?

Posted by on May 14, 2009

The one incredibly good thing about a down cycle is that it always forces us to separate what is important in life from what is not. 

This is a very opportune time for you to be incredibly honest with yourself and ask the hard question How Much Is Enough?   What do I really need to be fulfilled and content in my life?  Take some time on this and make sure you cover every area of your life, personal, family, career, friends, faith and community.

For most of us as Americans we have never had to answer this question before.  We have been told the sky is the limit and if you work hard enough you can accomplish anything you want.

I am in no way condoning anything less than your personal best in every area of your life.  However, I am bringing into question a consumer driven philosophy of life that is more concerned with quantity of things than quality of relationships.

For too many of us we have been living out the script that someone else has written for us.  It could be a parent, peers, corporate culture or society in general.  Now is the time to write our own script that includes our own definition of success in life.

Contentment and gratitude are two incredibly important core values in life.  If you do not know the answer to How Much Is Enough, then I am afraid you will never truly experience them.

 

 

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Customer Service At Home

Posted by on May 4, 2009

We all enjoy the experience of some organization or person who goes the extra mile and delivers high quality personal service.  In a day when most companies either put you on a phone tree from hell or only allow contact through email it is really nice when another person is simply pleasant and nice.

Mobile Travel Guide declares themselves as the gold standard of travel ratings and reviews.  They rate hotels and restaurants on a system of one to five stars based on their performance.  When you see their sign and there are at least three to the coveted five stars rating you know that the experience will be a good one.

Every day when we all go out into the public world of work and our daily to do list we interact with lots of other people.  Most of the time, we really try very hard to be courteous and polite to others especially if they are customers, suppliers, co workers or friends.  We give, give, and give to other people all day until we are emotionally spent by the time we head home.

When I evaluate my customer service rating at home I have to admit many times I would not receive even one star much less three to five. I treat the people I care about the most with the least amount of patience and kindness. 

If the Mobile staff were to interview the people who are the closest to you how many stars would you receive?  I am going to do whatever it takes to consistently improve my score.  How about you?

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Definition of Balanced Life

Posted by on April 24, 2009

All of us feel like we have too many things to do and not enough time to do them.  We have priorities in many different areas: our career, family, relationships, entertainment, faith and own personal life.  We also fulfill many roles as employees, fathers, husbands, wives, mothers, and friends just to name a few.

Somehow we have developed this concept that true happiness and success comes when all of these areas and roles are in perfect balance.  It is as if they all have equal percentages of our time, energy and passion.

Realistically we all know that is an impossible goal to accomplish. Our career alone demands a ever growing disproportionate amount of our time and if you have a newborn child in your house all bets are off including time to sleep.

To me a balanced life means that all of these areas as well as our different roles will constantly be changing in the amount of resources they demand.  The critical factor is not to let anything that is important in your life be totally neglected to the point that you are now failing in that area because all of the other things have drained you to the point you have nothing left to give.

When you reach that point and we all do from time to time we must reprioritize our lives so that everything important gets its slot on our calendars.  This will mean that something else will have to get less or be eliminated all together.

Believe it or not sometimes we need to not go to the new latest and greatest parenting conference and just stay at home and play with our children.  Life can be crazy and its demands will change with each new day.

When you have the character and courage to assume the responsibility of leading your total life you will make sure that nothing major falls through the cracks.  Enjoy your day!!

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Personal Crisis

Posted by on April 20, 2009

When negative things are happening in your life and you feel like you are in a deep hole and cannot see how to get out there are three key personal leadership disciplines that will help you get your positive momentum back.

The first is perspective.  When things are not going well today it is very important to put the present in the context of the long look that includes both the past and the future.  All of life both the good and the bad tend to run in cycles.  You cannot choose many times the circumstances about what happens to you but it is your responsibility to choose how you respond to them. 

Adversity in life will either make you a better person or a bitter one and that choice is within your control.  The key thing about your past is you must learn from it but never live in it.  Failure never has to be final unless we let it.

The same is true about the future.  You can choose to watch the news 3 hours a day and live with fear, worry and doubt or you can be grateful for what you have and face the future with hope and a positive attitude. 

The second personal leadership discipline in dealing with change is priorities.  The one incredibly good thing about a down cycle is that it always forces us to separate what is important in life from what is not. 

We must start by not asking the question what have I lost but what do I still have?  I would encourage you to write down everything that is still in your life that is important and when you see it all you will be amazed by how blessed you really are.

Someone has well said the tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon but we wait so long to begin it.  Regardless of your age or stage of life this dramatic period of change we are all going through is the perfect time for you to decide how you want to spend the rest of your life.  If you need some help get a life coach to walk through this process with you.

The third discipline to deal with change is to be proactive.  When some people face dramatic change they choose to live in denial as if this is not really happening to me.  On the other extreme others know the change is real to the point of becoming emotionally depressed about their new state of life.

I must assume personal responsibility to change myself first and start leading myself by making good daily decisions before my life can begin to turn around in different direction.  The only way to do that is to do what you can with what you have right where you are and do it today with all your heart.

 

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Just Don't Do It

Posted by on April 9, 2009

Just Do It is a phrase that has come to represent the cultural mentality of an entire generation of Americans. The sheer discipline that is represented in those three words has pushed many of us to do things that otherwise we would have walked away from and left undone.

In my life the major point of application is in the area of physical fitness. When it is cold and dark outside most of us do not want to jump out of bed and go for a nice run when the temperature is in the twenties and the wind is blowing. In some small but very effective way, thinking about Just Do It can make the difference between turning over and getting up.

An even bigger problem for most of us is the daily discipline of learning how to say No. Everyday all of us will have more to do than we can possibly get done. It happens at work, at home, with friends and hobbies.

The real secret to success in life is in knowing on a daily basis what to say No to and walk away. The real tragedy of life is when we look back and realize even though we have been incredibly busy we have done so many things that were really not important at all.

I don’t know about you but the Just Do It mentality has pushed me beyond my limits too many times. I do not want to waste my time, energy, passion and relationships on things that do not add value to others.

I encourage you to just pick one thing a day for a week that you can say No to so that you can have the time to find your bigger Yes.

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Living In The Moment

Posted by on April 3, 2009

 

Many of us will lose some of the greatest blessings in life because we are not able to enjoy the life we already have today.  Someone has well said that,” the measure of our peace of mind is determined by how much we are able to live in the present moment.”

Two mortal enemies that tend to rob us of the potential for today are the failures and pain from our past or the worries and fears about what may happen in the future.  Mark Twain once said, “I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”

We tend to live under the false illusion that one day I am going to get my priorities in order and then I will be able to do what I want and need to do.  Happiness is always in the future tense because we never take the time to decide what is really important and what is not.

Every day we must say no to something because we live in a highly stressful world that demands more of us than we can possibly accomplish.  The only way to consistently say no to the wrong things is to first know what you should be saying yes to on a daily basis.

One of the major yes things should be I want to live everyday with a grateful spirit and a peaceful mind so that I can really see what is good about my life. Then I can concentrate on getting the things done today that are important and before today is done I can make sure to enjoy the moment.

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Attitude of Gratitude

Posted by on April 1, 2009

 

I was reading again Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff by Richard Carlson and he talked about his tendency to start thinking negative thoughts with all the bad news that is out there today.  I fight this as well especially when you are going through a hard time personally or when there is this slight issue of a global recession.

It is important to build into your life the daily discipline of thinking about all the good things that you have in your life.  We all should be grateful just to be alive and the basics of life including food, clean water and shelter.  There are multiplied millions of people who struggle  just to make it through one more day.

Beyond that we have families and friends and hopefully we are fulfilled by doing something with our life that we know will make a difference.  Through our faith we can have forgiveness for our failures and hope for the future.

The power of gratitude though is released when we go beyond thinking about it and personally telling someone else how thankful we are for what they mean to us.  This sets off a chain reaction of them passing on their gratitude to someone else in their life and the cycle continues.

So as we all are waiting today for the new evil conflicker virus to start spreading through our computers lets start spreading something positive in our lives by telling just one person thanks.

 

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Called vs. Driven

Posted by on March 12, 2009

It is very important that we all know the difference between these two power words.  If you are not careful and buy into the media’s definition of success you will be driven to get all the perks of this lifestyle.

Driven people see their career as the primary provider of their physical and emotional needs.  It gives them power, possessions, position, pleasure and all the emotional significance they want from all the outward success they achieve.

Called people on the other hand see their career as a means to a much more important end and that is impacting other people.  They get up every day on a mission to make a difference and the bottom line for them is not profits but people.

I am convinced that called people in the marketplace can be more successful in every way than their driven counterparts.  They have a passion that goes way beyond just showing up for work and hitting the numbers.

All of us have a strong desire to look back at the end of our lives and know that we have made a real difference.  That difference will not be who has the most toys but who has helped the most people.

 

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