8 Myths about work life balance my clients don’t believe anymore...
Eventually every leader realises that you can have all the success in the world. But if you don’t have good quality time and energy left to spend with the people you love then it’s all for nothing.
But when it was HUSTLE and HARD WORK that got you where you are it can be hard to believe there is any other way. Yet believe you MUST if you are to start taking steps towards creating it.
MYTH: Work Life balance is for workers not leaders
My clients no longer believe that work life balance is only available to the 8-4 worker who clocks in and clocks out.
In fact they believe that one of the ways they actually want to get paid is in TIME to be with their families, have fun and look after their health and failing to have these things is too great a price to pay.
They keep their definition of success front and centre in their minds so that they can measure and take action to serve that and be honest with themselves when they aren’t serving that objective.
MYTH: You MUST live for your business
My clients no longer believe that their minds MUST be on their business 24/7 in order to excel.
In fact they recognise that sleep, connection, enjoyment and health make them better able to solve the problems and challenges they face in their work. And the evidence in their lives supports this belief.
MYTH: Productivity is the KEY
My clients no longer believe that work life balance is the product of productivity, ticking as many things off the to do list as possible.
Rather they recognise that when they go into productivity mode it is because they have stepped into stress mode and need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture and focus more on their strategy. The result is spending more time on whats valuable and being more able to notice what is urgent but unimportant.
MYTH: You need to find more time
My clients no longer believe that in order to get something that looks like work life balance you HAVE to find additional hours in the early morning or late evening when everyone else is asleep.
They now recognise that the need to constantly apply additional hours highlights a flaw in their processes and time spent addressing the gaps in process is MORE effective that committing to and asking others to work ever harder.
In fact they now recognise that this approach is a recipe for stressed, overwhelm and poorer quality work from themselves and their teams.
MYTH: More HUSTLE = more free time
My clients no longer believe that getting their head down and hustling is the best way to get any free time.
They now see that if their in hustle mode they are being reactive to all that’s incoming and mistaking other people’s urgency for IMPORTANCE to their objective and thus waste huge amounts of time going in the wrong direction. The now work on creating space and time to make better decisions so that they can do what is MOST skilful given their objective.
MYTH: Multi tasking is the best way to condense time
My clients no longer believe that multitasking is the best way to get enough work done to allow for any sort of work life balance.
They recognise multitasking such as answering calls or emails while trying to focus on work means to give half attention to both being fully present with neither and creating unnecessary stress and inefficiency.
MYTH: If people can always contact me we will all be more efficient
My clients no longer believe that they should be contactable at all hours of the day and that this is the only way that can have any sort of work life balance. They now see that to be constantly contactable leaves them at the whims of everyone else and hoping that they can change the whole world is NEVER going to happen.
But taking responsibility for their own time and energy is the only way to keep the promises they have made to clients, colleagues and loved ones alike. In fact they now recognise that anything other than this approach will create a BIGGER to do list.
MYTH: Tell the team to fix their own problems
My Clients no longer believe that resisting meeting with their team is the best way to avoid working too much. The counter to that open door policy is often the other extreme, out of sight out of mind.
My clients now recognise that skilful communication can transform a team member into someone who takes huge amounts of work away from us without them gaining any more work. By turning them into a more skilful problem solver you need NEVER have the same conversation twice.
