“I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can’t truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles.” – Zig Ziglar
It is not just that harmony benefits your life – lack of harmony hurts it, in real tangible ways.
The World Health Organization estimates that stress costs American businesses $300 billion a year. The 2012 Workplace Survey released by the American Psychological Association suggests that many Americans report chronic work-related stress. Around 41 percent said they “feel tense or stressed out during the workday,” an uptick from the previous year’s 36 percent. In its annual wellness report, Employee Assistance Program provider ComPsych found that 38 percent of employees can’t stop thinking about problems like emotional, health, financial and job concerns.
Work-life balance not only results in happiness and personal success, it can even lead to business innovation. Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, has noted that some of his best ideas come when he engages his children in conversations about his work.
Melinda Gates sums it up well: “The only thing I care about on the day I die is that people think I was a great mom, family member, and friend.”
Challenge yourself with the following “How to” exercises
- MAKE balance a personal priority and be clear what balance means to you.
As Dr. Stephen Covey puts it, ‘first things first’. Make sure that business, balance and beyond all play their parts. - SPEND time with loved ones; and also set aside time to improve your health and do things that matter to you, like pursuing a hobby. If you don’t spend quality time with yourself and your loved ones, someone or something less important will take up your time.
- PREPARE a ‘not to do’ list, not a ‘to do’ list. This will remove non-essentials from your life. How do you make it? List everything that must be done in your life; delegate as much as you can; next, eliminate what is not necessary, then prioritize and execute what is left.
- PRACTICE the Hour of Power: 20 minutes of exercise, 20 minutes of reading and 20 minutes of meditation each morning.
- OBSERVE the Power of the Hour: schedule an appointment with yourself midday to regroup, reflect and reprioritize. This will make your afternoons more productive.
- RECORD where your time goes. When you do this, you become more aware and alert, thereby improving your focus and allocation of time.
- REMEMBER that slow is fast – when you slow down the time spent with your family, you notice a lot more about them, and have time to actually hear them out. Consequently, your relationships get better as your attention and care create impact. Or, as another example, if you start eating slowly, you can enjoy your food better and feel full faster.
- FOCUS on the 20 percent of things that give you 80 percent of value.
- WRITE the top three goals you want to accomplish the next day before you go to bed, and work on them exclusively (at least till 2 pm the next day). Then you can take care of smaller tasks.
- SPEND quality time with business partners, colleagues, customers, spouse, partner, children and parents.
- DEFINE what a successful day and week means to you. Then set about achieving it.
- DEVELOP the attitude that you will manage time, and not that time will manage you!