Work Life Integration

Category Archive: Work Life Integration

Five Questions To Uncover Your Purpose

Posted by on July 2, 2018

I wasted years trying to do the right things without clearly defining what those things actually are. The volume of inputs is increasing daily and how can we possibly know what to do and what not to do? The only way to consistently say No to the good things, to be able to say Yes to the best, is to know and live according to your purpose. This Forbes Coaches Council is excellent:

“In the quiet moments, when you’re truly honest with yourself, you aren’t even sure why you are doing what you’re doing today (beyond just paying the bills). You have no idea how you ended up here. But above all else, you crave more and you know there is more out there — more meaning, connection, consciousness and growth.”

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How To Get A Life Worth Living

Posted by on June 22, 2018

All of us have things in our lives we would like to do differently. We tell ourselves that someday we will make the changes that will produce the kind of life we really want. Then outside demands increase and we buy into the this is only temporary lie again. If you don’t have the courage to write your own script, someone else will for you. This post by Jeremy Lott was great:

“For my first job in Washington, DC, I worked very long hours. One night, a rare dinner date was lined up. “What time do you get off?” my date asked to coordinate. A long, awkward pause followed. “It’s kind of a philosophical question,” I finally admitted.”

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Signs You Are On The Verge Of Burnout

Posted by on June 15, 2018

The two high profile suicides this past week should cause us all to take an honest look at our emotional margin. We blow off all the seemingly temporary cycles of discouragement and frustration. What we miss is the chronic pattern of negative behavior that are clearly warning signs of a much deeper problem. This Forbes post was timely:

“However, just because society tends to look at burnout as going hand-in-hand with working hard doesn’t mean that it must become your reality. If you find yourself heading down the road to burnout or you believe the warning signs are creeping in, now is the time to stop and act.”

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How Long Hours And Less Sleep Impact Our Character

Posted by on May 25, 2018

The quality of my daily decisions comes down many times to how much margin do I have physically, emotionally and spiritually. Its impossible to sustain good character based decisions when you are already looking for a shortcut because you have nothing left to give. This Forbes post will drive home the risk of margin-less living:

“Perpetual deadlines, challenging goals and objectives, urgent deal closures, multitasking, etc. — all have created a frenzied need to perform at super-human levels. The need to outperform by working long hours or pulling all-nighters has become a meme of professions such as finance, medicine, technology, military and shift workers.”

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Defining The Elusive Work-Life Balance

Posted by on May 18, 2018

There is this constant tension between the priorities of learning and living. The first stage of improvement is to learn something new that will help you set new goals. I have reached that point several years ago on this subject but I still find myself having a very hard time consistently living out the practices. This post by Karl Sun was very specific on how to live it out:

“For me personally, I can try to silo work and life all I want, but in order to really build something meaningful, compartmentalizing is borderline impossible. But I recognize everyone doesn’t think or even work like I do. So, what’s important is individually figuring out the best way for work life and personal life to work together.”

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Five Steps To Break Your Social Media Addiction

Posted by on May 9, 2018

This one is very hard for me to get to a good place and stay there. By the nature of my work in leadership development I am constantly searching and reading new content. I use social media to stay connected to some of the people in my network. However, there are times that I realize I am picking up the phone simply because its there, instead of doing something better. This Forbes Coaches Council post was great:

“It’s undeniable that people stare at their phone screens too much. In fact, a Nielsen study found that the average adult spends five and a half hours every week on social media. That’s nearly 12 full days every year. If that doesn’t scare you enough, a lot of us are now addicted to social media.”

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Posted by on May 2, 2018

This post by Kathy Lockwood perfectly sums up the critical issue on this subject. The normal work life balance rationale assumes a zero sum dynamic. If we are winning at work then we must be loosing at home. Yes, there is the reality of limited margin but that does not mean we can not use situational leadership to shift roles daily and maintain success:

“I often hear people talk about work-life balance. If we take the word balance literally, it would mean equal, and it would suggest equal time spent at work and in our personal activities. As work becomes less traditional and many offices even become virtual, I believe we are looking at work-life integration rather than balance.”

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5 Ways To Counteract Your Smartphone Addiction

Posted by on March 28, 2018

This problem has been a hard one for me to admit. I rationalize like everyone else that its related to work and keeping up with friends. However, when you start trolling all the latest news and watching those cute dog videos for two hours per day, something is desperately wrong. This HBR post helped me reframe the issue:

“We are living in an era of technology obsession and smartphone addiction. I hear it all the time: “I can’t go anywhere without my phone” or “I feel anxious when I’m not able to check email” or “If I’m not on my social feeds, I feel like I’m missing out.” Not surprisingly, research shows that too much technology use diminishes our mental and physical health, our relationships and more.”

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Five Signs You're Running Yourself Into The Ground

Posted by on March 26, 2018

I have this nagging conviction that many days I am simply doing the wrong things faster. My personal productivity far exceeds the development of my personal character. Weekends away from the daily grind feels like catching up instead of slowing down. This Forbes post confirmed a lot for me:

“Time in your workday to protect your time, energy and stress levels. If your calendar is constantly crammed with appointments from the time you wake until the time you turn out the lights, you are on your way to burnout. Working around the clock is not only ineffective, it’s unnecessary. Because we live at such a manic pace, there are five signs you just may be ignoring to protect the most precious asset there is: yourself.”

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Defining The Elusive Work-Life Balance

Posted by on March 9, 2018

Every coaching client I have worked with in the last 3 years has this item on their list for improvement. I am personally convinced that shifting the focus from balance to integration is the key to gaining margin. This allows for shifts in certain seasons in time without feeling we are failing across the board. Life Planning is critical to success. Karl Sun has a great post:

“At Lucid, we try to offer the flexibility that allows employees to balance work and personal life in their own way. We can do that because we trust them. We hire people who we trust to put in the time necessary to do their absolute best without us babysitting them—and if that happens outside your typical 9-5 workday, that’s okay.”

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