Life Balance: Personally, then Professionally

Life balance:how do you know your life is not in balance? Many people sense a state of imbalance on their own. For instance, they realize they aren’t getting enough sleep, they’re eating too much, or they simply aren’t exercising. Other individuals discover they are out of whack thanks to friends and family who care enough to tell them things like, “You aren’t acting like yourself lately—you need to take a break” or “The stress you’re feeling is creeping into other areas of your life. Can I help in some way?”

At LEADon, we’ve spent years encouraging leaders to take regular assessments of their personal and professional lives to make certain they maintain balance. Why? Because over time, imbalance greatly impacts health, relationships, productivity as well as overall success and satisfaction in life.

Here are a few simple questions we’d encourage you to ask yourself to determine how balanced your life is—personally and professionally. Remember, your personal life is the core of the equilibrium you will practice in all other areas of your life, including within your Corporate Family™.

• How are your relationships, at home and at work? Are you spending quality time with the people in your “circle of trust”?
• Do you take time to enjoy life, making sure to fit fun activities into your daily routine?
• When was the last time you laughed?
• How many hours are you putting into work each day? Each week? If you were asked to create a pie graph of your life, what size would the work piece be?
• When do money matters creep into your thoughts? Daily? Hourly? Minute-by-minute?
• Finances and resources are important, but could you be overly focused on these issues?
• Do you exercise each day, even if it’s getting in a fifteen minute walk? And, while we’re on the topic, what’s your diet like? Are you eating healthy meals—or do you tend to gobble something on the run?
• When was the last time you stopped to think about what you believe in—your creed, philosophy, or values? Do you have guiding “straight line” principles you reflect on regularly?

Balance isn’t easy to maintain, especially for leaders in our world today, yet it is a critical tipping point that will define exceptional leadership which truly lasts. If you’d like to explore this concept more, read Chapter 4 of The Leading Edge: 9 Strategies for Improving Internal and Intentional Leadership. Please feel free to contact us at www.LEADon.biz, and be sure to look up our new LEADon University website for our online learning leadership courses and our Emotional Quotient metric, the Developing Emotional Competency Questionnaire (DECQ), at www.LEADonUniversity.com.