Design the Right “Life-Balance"

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Design the Right “Life-Balance” to Improve Your Management Performance

Why a Good Life-Balance Quotient Is Important

Were you a Hippie? A Yuppie? A card-carrying member of Generation X? Or have you adopted a comfortable life-balance philosophy? You might call it a life-work balance, but it’s much more than that. This is not a new theory. Over 2,500 years ago the venerable philosopher, Euripides, strongly recommended keeping a balance in your life. While there weren’t the work pressures of the 21st century, there certainly were daily life and death issues.

Constructing an effective life-balance strategy helps your health, daily mood, positive outlook, family and workplace relations, and all other conditions that life brings. The key is to emphasize the “balance” factor. Expending physical or psychological energy too strongly on any one component typically destroys the carefully constructed balance you forged.

There are few, if any work related or quality-of-life situations that won’t benefit from balance. Understand that a workplace or family crisis condition requires a strong focus on solving the immediate problem. However, your total dedication to a crisis should not explode your balance equation, as it may have long-term negative effects after the present problem is solved.

Create and maintain a strong life-balance quotient to improve your personal and professional existence. Like any other habit, good or bad, once established, it will be difficult to break—and you won’t want to change this one. The life-balance factor will also help you improve your work performance and further your career.

If you’re unsure about how to construct a balanced program, you’ll find some excellent resources in print and Internet format for life-balance suggestions. From well-respected author, Steven Covey (“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”), to many other lesser-known, but equally effective proponents, like Dr. Henry Cloud (“The One-Life Solution”), experts can help you understand and adopt a good life-balance action plan.

How an Appropriate Life-Balance Equation Improves Your Performance

All ambitious professionals seek ways to improve their performance and make “statements” that impress executive management and accelerate their careers. Nothing helps more than adopting a comfortable life-balance strategy.

If you’ve adopted a workaholic program, willingly or not, you will be amazed how your daily performance improves almost immediately after changing and improving your life-balance equation. There is one key to making this plan work well for you. Ready?

Keep your work responsibilities in context with the much larger picture of your quality-of-life.

Your workplace duties are very important. However, they pale in comparison with your total quality of life. While the Hippies tended to be overbalanced toward life issues and the Yuppies often moved the equation 180 degrees to the work quotient, the key is to develop a balance. Your work performance will often make giant strides forward, even if you are a currently high performer. Some of the results you can expect include:

1. Spending one-half (eight hours) of your waking day at a job and workplace you enjoy is priceless. Just as the reverse, spending every work day in a frustrating job is a totally demoralizing experience; job enjoyment revitalizes you and your daily life.
   
   
2. An expanded sense of commitment to your job and company. A wonderful byproduct of a meaningful life-balance strategy is the expansion of your dedication to your job and to achieving superior performance. There is no stronger motivation to high performance than a commitment to a life-balance existence. You’ll find many former pressures melting away and a new ability to focus on workplace goals and objectives.
   
   
3. A new feeling of freedom to mold your career the way you want it to be. Just as many Generation X’ers viewed the workaholics their parents and friends became and just said “No,” a balanced life-work philosophy breaks the bonds of a work hard and no play plan. The freedom to be confident you can perform well without the guilt, pressure, and fear of the workaholic is uplifting and enriching.

These are but a few of the benefits you’ll enjoy by adopting a positive life-balance strategy. This balance orients you much like a compass, always pointing north, helps explorers reach their destination. Your personal GPS will focus on your well being, which in turn gives you increased energy and motivation to perform at the work site.

As a manager, your renewed energy and motivation (in all areas of your life) typically generate better workplace performance. Positive personality changes, subtle or dramatic, also contribute to the perception that you are a manager worth considering for future promotion. Should you wish to seek another position with a new employer, you often enjoy improved performance on your interviews and presentation. The right life-balance equation benefits you at many levels and typically improves your professional career.