Most of us know that work-life balance doesn’t just happen. We must be strategic in our efforts to gain it—and to keep it. Work-life balance is not a one-time fix, but rather a continuous process of adjusting priorities. Some things are more important than others for a season. Good leaders know how to assess and adapt to maintain equilibrium.
Generally, most people believe that dividing tasks into neat baskets and carefully allotting equal amounts of time for each task would produce a work-life balance. But that’s not true at all. It would be nice to have a simple division problem with no remainders (16 waking hours divided by four critical tasks). Using a piece-of-cake calculation to produce an even flow between work and home life wouldn’t be beneficial.
The reality is that achieving a successful work-life balance requires a strategic plan that is fluid and adaptable to accommodate inevitable changes in priorities. Having targeted priorities is a precursor to work-life balance. And it doesn’t just happen. We can assign targeted priorities after gaining clarity and alignment around purpose, vision, mission, and values in life and leadership roles. Understanding these crucial components is essential before taking purposeful action to define priorities.
Here are three steps to help you gain the clarity and alignment to give you confidence to create the balance necessary to excel in your life and leadership.
- Get clear about who you are. In other words, what is your purpose? How do you want to show up in the world around you? In your leadership role? This is foundational to building a life that is well-balanced and has tremendous fluidity when opportunities to shift arise. When we fail to consider our purpose, we are more likely to engage in fruitless tasks and adhere to a regimen that does not align with our essence. These efforts may leave us overwhelmed, exhausted, and conflicted. Once you’re clear on your purpose and the other components, then you can decide what you want to emphasize. Determining your emphasis early will help you to develop a more concentrated plan of action.
- Get clear about what you want. What’s happening now? How would you like to experience in the next 3 months? 6 months? What growth opportunities exist? It is important to be targeted and specific in these areas. Determine what’s working and what’s not working currently for you. Doing so will help you determine where to focus your efforts. Oftentimes, we will make a plan hastily, without taking the time to survey what’s already happening (good or bad). We fail to consider where improvements could be made.
- Make a strategic and aligned plan to move forward. After you’ve gotten clear about the essential components (purpose, mission, vision, and values) and what you want, you can move toward setting goals and developing a workable strategic plan to achieve them. Keep in mind that all plans should be made with the understanding that they may change as your priorities and life circumstances also change. As you hone your vision and gain a better understanding of your purpose, your goals and aspirations may shift. However, because the plan is anchored in purpose and aligns with your current life priorities, a better work-life balance will be the result. And you can feel good about your decisions.
Work-life balance is always the result of having priorities that reflect our purpose and align with our core values. Forget about having everything in neat little baskets, divided equally. Begin with understanding who you are, who you were created to be, and the value you add to the world as a confident woman in leadership. In other words, begin with understanding your purpose. With this understanding, you can prioritize confidently and make decisions conducive to achieving a customized work-life balance.
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