What Is Your Definition of Balance?

Not a week goes by that you don’t see some sort of article or comment on work-life balance or some equivalent. Oddly enough, it is usually women who are the subject of these musings even though men can have similar issues. But, we’re not talking about them here – we’re talking about you as a busy executive who wants to find a better balance.

The first key is to determine what you really want your balance to be. You may want to work 60 hours a week – or maybe 20 hours. You may want or need to spend time with older parents or younger kids. You may want to focus on your health, take art classes or travel. Until you determine these priorities, though, finding your personal balance can be elusive.

Here are some questions you ask yourself right now to figure out what balance means to you.

• Are you frequently feeling stress or guilt about not paying attention to certain parts of your life (health, family, friends, career)? Be honest with yourself without being judgmental. Don’t rationalize your feelings away by assuming that everyone else is also stressed, and it is just the way it has to be. It may actually take some time to get to how you really feel simply because you have become so ingrained in the patterns of a busy executive’s life.
• If you could redesign your life with no limits, what would it look like? You can start by thinking of this as a “dream life” if that helps. No limits applies to money, time and location. See it in your mind and write it down. Does this redesigned life look like your current life? If not, how is it different? What areas would you spend more time in and which ones would get less?
• What is a perfect “normal” day for you? What is part of it – and what isn’t? A “perfect” day can start to look like a mini-vacation, and that’s not what you are going for in this answer. Would it include exercise and plenty of healthy foods with time to actually eat them? Would it be leaving the office on time to attend your child’s game or have dinner with a friend? Would it simply be that you will feel energized and creative at work with plenty of that same energy available at the end of the day? How is this day different than the ones you recently experienced?

In reflecting on these questions, what you have you learned? Do you see things that now need to change? What part of your day or your life is working really well? What baby step can you implement this week to move you closer to the balance you want?