An Exercise in Work-Life Balance for Today’s Busy Women in Leadership

Every year, as the 1^st of January approaches, I find myself thinking about the new year of infinite possibilities and how I will balance it all.

I look at my calendar already taking shape with speaking and writing engagements and a few items that I’m obligated to do (no matter how fun or how much I look forward to them), and there is a responsibility to be present and accountable.

And yet the calendar still has vacant dates and weeks, and I just know that I will be able to find some time this year to balance my wants and needs with both my professional and personal commitments.

Balance Comes for Moderation

But, as the month rolls on, the calendar fills in the blank dates are harder to find. I tell myself, as a small business owner, that this is good, and I remember the saying my dad told me many times growing up, “Make hay while the sun shines.”

While I appreciate my father’s wisdom, I have found, as with most things, that it should be tempered with moderation. That led to my New Year’s Resolution: finding balance between work and myself. I am beginning to recognize the need for time in which I am not committed to anyone or anything else.

As I first weighed this new idea, I felt somewhat selfish or spoiled. However, I quickly realized that I was not thinking about taking every day just for me (remember moderation), I was talking about balancing those workdays on the calendar with a day for me – to reinvigorate and reconnect. So, I blocked out four days on the calendar for the first month to see how this time would feel to me.

An Experiment in Balance

I have to admit it was difficult! It left me feeling unbalanced. I would find myself on those “my days” walking passed the office and thinking I could just slide in there and do a couple of things. But I refrained from doing so. I wasn’t quite realizing that true balance would allow me to do both.

As I reviewed that first month’s calendar, I noticed that one week, I drove five hours the day before a presentation, spoke for one hour, then drove the five hours home to be on a flight the next morning. When I landed, I picked up a rental car and drove two hours to present a training the next day. The six hours passed quickly, and then I drove two hours back to the airport before flying home.

Quite the hectic four-day period and not what I would call balanced!

Taking a New Look at Balance

Using that week as my frame of reference, the following month, I vowed to listen to my head, heart, and body to decide what would be a more balanced approach. Knowing that I couldn’t make more time, I was determined to discover a method for how to use the time I had more effectively.

That’s why I suggest you reevaluate your own time management and strategies for prioritizing. Consider asking yourself these questions:

• What can you do to find balance in your own life?
• Are there things you do because you think you are expected to do that you can step away from?
• Can you share duties and responsibilities with someone else, or can you delegate work?

One thing I am certain of — unless we decide that “balance” is a priority, we won’t have it.