Life Coach, Emma Ranson Bellamy offers a quick exercise to assist with evaluating the balance of time split between work and personal pursuits.
In our lives we wear many hats. I am a writer, coach, mother, daughter, sister, ex-wife, friend, networker, club member, school committee member and parent to name but a few. Each of those roles asks for a slightly different emphasis using the skills I have, the experiences I have learnt and the values I hold dear.
As an employer which ones do you concentrate on and which ones do you ignore? And as an individual which ones do you set goals and strategies for and which ones are you prepared to fail at?
This is a crucial element of work/life balance. We are used to making goals at work, it’s expected that we achieve targets to file reports, to attend networking functions etc. But do we also make goals for our personal lives? For example, to go to every school open evening, to make it to the gym, to have a date night with a partner.
These are the parts of life, if you are anything like most of my clients, you are prepared to let go, these are also the things that make life pleasant, if it’s not done, it can cause the most arguments and potentially divorce, personal fatigue and resentment.
Many employers offer duvet days, three day weeks and home-working opportunities to counteract some of these affects. However, unless a personal audit takes place there is huge opportunity for abuse. This could lead to withdrawal of the facilities or worse still a stigma being attached to the take-up.
If you want to get the bigger picture and see what is really going on in your life, who you are and where you need to set some goals, do the following:
