Work Life Balance Tips and Ideas
from Trapper Woods, "Father Time"
WORK-LIFE BALANCE BREAKTHROUGH!
When you attempt to significantly change your work-life
balance, you will be faced with the greatest "perceived" threat to your security. That will be your "moment of truth." A
speaker friend of mine decided to give up travel on the weekends for balancing
work and family life. At first, his speaking invitations dropped. Then,
he decided to expand his conference workshops and executive coaching services.
He now has more demands than he can handle and hardly ever travels on weekends.
The moral: The perceived threat is never as bad as you think. It really
prompts your creativity and adaptation!
LIVING HOLISTICALLY - A NEW PARADIGM
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Stop trying to manage the clock. Managing your most important activities and priorities leads to a natural time management progression.
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Stop artificially separating personal and work life activities - do your most important activities whenever it is appropriate.
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Base the appropriate time on efficiency (work), practicality (personal or work appointments), or necessity (daycare).
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
In the process of balancing work and life, you'll need
to change how you prioritize the events in your life. You'll routinely categorize
events in terms of their priority (we use green, red and yellow) as color markers
in terms of an event's importance. BE FLEXIBLE - When an unexpected incident
occurs that requires your attention, first categorize it as either Vital or Not
Vital. Then select the best option for prioritizing it.
Practice makes perfect. How would you categorize and respond
to the following unexpected events during a "typical" work-day?
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Situation One: You have put off dealing with
an on-going problem with a coworker but now he/she is going to bring the conflict
to your boss for resolution.
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Situation Two: During
the course of a busy day, a sales representative drops by to inform you of
the latest product-offering key to your operation. He/She says, "It will
only take a couple of minutes" but
you know from previous experience it will be at least one hour.
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Situation Three: One hour before a critical
sales presentation to a key customer, you get a call that your child had a
minor accident at school and was taken to the local hospital.
Your prioritized plan should have had some buffer time. How could
you adjust your schedule to anticipate surprises in your day?
WORK TO LIVE - DON'T LIVE TO WORK
Treat your family like company and your company
like family. Treat your work like home and your home like work
CREATING
YOUR IDEAL LIFE
The real key to work-life balance is giving the right amount of attention
to four key areas. You will feel a sense of satisfaction when you
can adapt these ideas into your overall life.
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Self activities contribute to our personal well-being
- the balanced integration of body, mind and spirit. " Take care of your body. Exercise, eat healthy and get enough rest.
" Challenge your mind. Learn something new. Immerse yourself in a rewarding hobby.
" Be where you are. Live passionately in the moment. When you are working, work
hard. When you are playing, play hard.
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Family activities strengthen "family" relationships, extended and otherwise.
" Find creative ways to involve the people you care about in your life.
" Schedule time on a regular basis for specific activities.
" Vacation together.
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Work activities primarily relate to earning a living. " Do what you love. Make sure your professional goals are yours and not someone else's dreams for your future.
" Establish meaningful relationships at work.
" Strive for professional growth.
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Service activities are the ways we contribute to others
outside of work and family. " Volunteer with any organization that has principles and values you share.
" Commit random acts of kindness.
" Take time to be a good neighbor.
Work-life balance is all about living, living fully.
Living, earning, loving and serving…work
life, family life, social life, self, family, work, service. Let other people
help you and be where you are.
Get more time
management tips for free from Trapper Woods and improve the quality of your
life! Feel free to give us a call if you want to talk to a personal business
coach to help you make the right move to balancing work and life.
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