Filtering choices is the key to balancing business & life
The full description of this blog site is: “Methods, insights and conversations that focus on results in business … and life.” The vast majority of our posts are focused on achieving results that count in business. It’s definitely time to shift gears and focus on the “business of life”. Is it possible to achieve work/life balance in today’s hectic world? Deciding what not to do might be just your most important decision.
Work – Life Balance … is it a myth?
One could argue that there has always been an issue balancing work vs. personal life. In earlier decades, people toiled long hours and worked longer weeks. Lacking modern technology, it took much longer to accomplish necessities like cooking and cleaning. Cooking on wood stoves certainly cut into family and leisure time!
On the flip side, modern technology has made us more productive and shortened work days and weeks. But technology has also become the burden we now carry with us 24/7/365. While the official work week may only be 40 hours, smartphones have created a mentality of “always on”.
Do you ever really get done with work anymore? And, how many times do you have to use the weekend or what should be family time just to get your email inbox back to a sane level? With today’s technology, the work/life balance ratio seems tipped toward more work than ever before.
10,080 … The single underlying equity factor
Very few things are equal or fair on this planet earth. There is however, one great equalizer that is exactly the same for everyone:
Everyone has exactly the same 10,080 minutes of life each week.
So the bottom line for achieving balance is your personal decision of how to invest each one of those ticks on the clock. Yes, there are a few realities like a minimum of sleep and a requirement to eat something. But beyond meeting your basic biologic needs, everything is a choice.
Classic business objectives – Prioritize what to do
Classic business courses teach to focus first on targeting goals and objectives. Then work on deciding your priorities based on what to do to achieve your objectives. This classic measurement guy would also add that monitoring progress assists in identifying ways to be more effective and efficient. MBO (Management by Objectives) has been well documented by successes. But does it work for personal life?
Most important decision you’ll make – What NOT to do
John Mariotti provided an interesting insight in a post in OPEN Forum, which by the way is another great, free “smartbrief” resource worth subscribing to. In his post Mariotti makes a great case that biggest challenge in today’s frenetic, overloaded world is one of COMPLEXITY. In personal life, it is extremely challenging to filter through all of the competing demands.
The title of Mariotti’s post is: What Not to Do: The Most Important Decision You’ll Make. In his post, he describes some of his personal decisions regarding what not to do:
- He chose NOT to play golf while raising young kids because it took too much time away from family
- NOT working on weekends – weekend time is family/personal time and working weekends then erodes your psyche
- Choosing NOT to read all the blogs, email, and social chatter because it’s there on your smartphone bleeping at you
Is it really possible today for us to choose NOT to work on weekends? The answer of course is yes, but it depends upon your values and what you see as the consequences.
Achieving Balance = Choosing both Nots and Whats
The great thing about asking the question of What NOT to do … is that it forces you to focus on your values in order to reduce complexity. Whereas the question “What to do” tends to focus on developing a range of choices, and then how to prioritize them to be effective.
Perhaps achieving work/life balance requires asking both simultaneously. Nothing like the old two column sheet to quickly filter choice of how to spend your 10,080 ticks on the clock this week!
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What NOT to do
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What to do - Top Priorities
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You get the idea … your list will vary from week to week and season to season. Balancing the Nots with the Whats also depends on how much time you have on your lifetime clock. My Nots and Whats are far different now that I have reached the stage of enjoying grandkids.
Actually, I’m practicing balance right now on Safari
I have found that balancing the Nots with the Whats is also a great exercise annually. Instead of starting a New Year or season by making resolutions leading to checklists of priorities, try starting with asking the question “What am I NOT going to do?” It just might be the most life balance decision you make.
For me, starting with What Not To Do reduced some complexity and clutter. This in turn led me to make the choice to MAKE time to practice my photographic passion while on an African safari this week.
Here are my current choices of What Not to Do while on safari:
- Do NOT take a smartphone
- Do NOT get on email anywhere at any time
- Do NOT wear a watch or look at any clock
Life is full of choices. If you are seeking balance, try balancing your decisions by asking both the Nots and the Whats.
What can you choose NOT to do in the next 10,080 minutes of your life? (Click & share your thoughts.)
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Sources:
- www.openforum.com, What Not To Do: The Most Important Decision You’ll Make, July 21, 2011
Now this one I enjoyed!
Carl
John X Safaris
Posted by: Carl van Zyl | August 25, 2011 at 01:17 AM