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Category Archive: Work Life Integration

How To Set Goals That Support Life Balance

Posted by on January 29, 2018

There is more and more pushback, especially from Millennial workers, about the expectations about doing work almost 24/7. I also often remind executives the other side of the coin is that we all bring home to work. Bottom line, if we don’t have work life balance it dramatically impacts our sense of well being and productivity. This Forbes post was helpful:

“This time of year, pretty much everyone’s talking about goals. The clean slate of a new year is pretty irresistible, after all, and any leader knows how important it is to set goals. Most of us are pretty goal-oriented people.”

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How To Recover From Burnout

Posted by on December 15, 2017

One of the most important things I do as a leader is to monitor the margin I have in all of the life accounts included in my Life Plan. I believe in work-life integration and not balance. This allows me to have a short term deficit in one area as long as my overall margin is healthy. However, when my margin is gone in multiple areas, I am in serious danger of moving into burnout. This HBR post will help you in regaining control:

“You feel exhausted, ineffective, unaccomplished, and cynical. Maybe you feel like no matter how hard you work, you can never keep up. Or that you can’t make your boss happy no matter how hard you try. And you’re beginning to question your professional situation: Am I in the right job? The right company? The right career? I used to feel passionate about going into work but now I dread Monday and can’t wait until Friday. Will I ever feel excited about my life and work again?”

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Habits That Keep You Primed For Success

Posted by on December 13, 2017

I am personally convinced that every leader who wants to reach their potential needs to develop a Life Plan. This plan will set both personal and professional goals with specific priorities to accomplish. If you do something long enough it will become a habit and eventually part of your character. This Forbes post is an excellent way to get you started:

“Habits matter. Good ones underpin our successes and bad ones undermine our health and aspirations. That’s why it’s important to intentionally build routines that align with what we want: a happy, healthy, successful life. If you know people who have achieved a goal that you also want to achieve, ask them about their habits!”

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How To Let Go At The End Of The Workday

Posted by on November 29, 2017

The biggest challenge I have as an executive coach is helping people create the margin they need both personally and professionally. The 24/7 connectivity world we live in has totally blurred all the lines between work and family time. Unless you assume the responsibility to lead yourself, you will eventually fail in one or both areas. This HBR post is a must read:

“Chris, a senior manager at a New York design studio can’t sleep. His mind is churning, thinking about the mountain of tasks facing him back at the office. Katrina, the production manager at a well-known publishing house is distracted by a work email at the dinner table. Her partner complains that she “never seems able to turn off.”

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5 Reasons Why You Need To Get Better At Saying NO

Posted by on October 20, 2017

This one concept has changed my life. I am by nature a task driven person and I will automatically just work harder and not smarter when the demands increase. I had an extremely hard time consistently saying No to many good things to have the margin for the best. When I finally completed my Life Plan and defined my Yes’s, that problem is now almost gone. Michael Hyatt is nail on the head again:

“I have a hard time saying no. Perhaps you do, too. I think it is more common than we think, especially for those who are empathetic or nurturing. We just hate the thought of hurting someone else’s feelings.

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How To Truly Lead Your Life

Posted by on September 29, 2017

I often need as an executive coach to enter into conversations on all of the important differences between leadership and management. In an organization, knowing the distinctions and valuing both roles is critical. However, no one gets a pass based on a personality assessment of being the leader of their own life. This Forbes post is excellent:

“I would like to start this post with a challenge to one of our most basic assumptions. We are accustomed to thinking ourselves as individuals: as self-contained, uniform entities. I’m an individual with my own thoughts, feelings, needs, values, skills, knowledge, and talents.”

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Five Consequences Of A Life Out Of Balance

Posted by on September 22, 2017

This may be the single most talked about topic that I encounter in all of my executive coaching. The demands of our careers leave little margin for the other things that really matter the most in life. It takes an incredible amount of character to be willing to define your own core values and then live by them. This Michael Hyatt post is incredible:

“If you are working more than 55 hours a week, you are working too much and likely out of balance. You may be able to keep this up for a season, but it is not sustainable. In fact, if you keep working so much, something will eventually break. And the sooner you come to terms with this, the better.”

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How To Forget About Work When You're Not Working

Posted by on September 1, 2017

I read and coach a lot about the incredible challenge of work-life balance. I have never had a client that does not have this subject on the top three list of things they want to address. I am convinced that life integration is the key to resolving many of these tensions. This HBR post gives some practical advise:

“When was the last time you got away from work? I mean truly got away from it: didn’t think about it, didn’t worry about it, didn’t have a to-do list rattling around in your brain.

Most of us know there are benefits to getting away from work. We know we need time to recharge each day in order to be able to sustain our attention in the office. We know time away from complex problems allows us to find a fresh perspective. We know if we work too many long days in a row we’ll find ourselves doing what I affectionately call “fake work” — sitting at our desks without actually accomplishing anything.”

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Four Work-Life Questions To Ponder On Vacation

Posted by on July 26, 2017

My life is spent doing a lot of executive coaching. When we start a coaching relationship, I ask people to fill out a personal profile form to help me understand their needs. Without exception the issue of work-life balance is always identified as a major problem. This Fast Company post will help us all:

“You packed your favorite journal and a couple of pens. You planned some time on the beach, or left an afternoon empty to find a table at an outdoor cafe where you can grab an ice-cold drink and just think. This vacation, you’ve told yourself, you’re finally going to be able to take a break and get some clarity. But clarity about what, exactly?”

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Developing Leaders For Life

Posted by on June 23, 2017

The whole idea behind The Convergence Point my leadership development company is that people will be able to sort through all the noise and activity that is out there and find real meaning and purpose in life. This means that we really need to know what we want and make sure we are willing to pay the price to get it.

I want to erase the artificial lines that exist between the personal and professional. The cost is too high to succeed in one only to fail in the other. It’s not really work-life balance we are looking for but life work integration.

For most of us this means that we will have to be willing to buy into the whole concept of Less is More. The overwhelming majority of us have full calendars but empty hearts. To create the margin we need for meaningful relationships something has to go.

It may be something as simple as less entertainment and more conversations. It may be something as complex as changing careers and downsizing to create the emotional space we need to move the people we care about to the top of the list.

Life is a journey and we only get to do this once. I can think of nothing more important than the merging of your values and your voice into the everyday Business of Life.

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