The MYTH of Balance
Over the past month, the topic of Work/Life Balance has come up so many times, I took it as a sign that you would want to take a closer look at that in your Wednesdays With Wayne this week!
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Here’s the question: is there really such a thing as balance? We look for work/life balance, but there’s no really balance, is there? In fact, it never feels like quite enough. There’s always more to do at work. There is always something missing at home. And free time?? Really?
So the whole concept of work/life as being some form of balance is really a total myth! What we have is life!
What We Have Is LIFE!
How we fill the time we have each day is totally up to us. Really. How we fill that time we have each day really is totally up to each one of us. Let’s hold a mirror up to your calendar, shall we? With what are you choosing to fill your days?
Would you say that you’re generally happy? Or, would you say that you are at the whim and will of someone else’s dictates? You might’ve heard me ask this of you before: do you grab your cell phone the first thing in the morning? Is it someone else’s agenda for you that rules your day?
Here’s a quick exercise that you’ll appreciate. I do this with my High Performance DynamicLeader® clients. You’ll step into a stronger you and more productive day if you actually do this exercise.
Ready?
List the things you really like to do. Quick. Just make a list. Use a scrap paper, use your journal, use the computer or make a list on your phone. Quickly, make a list of the things you really like to do. It doesn’t have to be extensive, but make it more than four or five things.
That was only half the exercise. The next half is, well, not that easy when you realize what it means. Do it, though. Just do it.
List the things that you fill your day with.
What are you doing the most of?
What’s next?
What’s next?
Obviously, this then begs the question of whether you can really say that there’s work/life balance. There’s what you choose to fill your days with and what that means to you.
There is LIFE. What are you putting into it? Are you happily doing that?
Start by creating a block of time for yourself, every day. Take 20 minutes. Grab your calendar and create a block on your schedule that no one (not even the phone or emails or Facebook) can violate. Start with a 20-minute block. When you get really good at this, you’ll take a couple of hours a day just for you.
Block time for writing.
Block time for reading.
Block time for creating and planning.
Block time for getting outside with no other plans.
Those blocks of time can be all in one day every day or every other day or they can rotate over the course of multiple days in a week.
What do you really like to do?
If that’s true, then what do you need to be doing more of or less of to spend more time doing that?
Let go of the idea of trying to find balance and get into the idea of enjoying more of what you do in life. This is YOUR life. Isn’t it time for you to be Choosing Your Power?
Keep making your magic!
Until next week…!
~ Dr P ~
Dr Wayne Pernell has multiple programs to help you break through to your next level of achieving more, being more, and serving more. To learn about the books or programs offered, look around the website and/or click on any of the links in this email.