Christina, thank you for your post reminding us to slow down and enjoy life, even in the midst of busy careers, schedules, and family life. As leaders we can get very caught up in the busyness of everyday, and as you mention, fill our busy schedules with things that we don’t even value. (ccbeau, 2018). If we are to be principled, authentic and servant leaders, we need to lead with values first, and sometimes this means investing in our personal interests and family lives before pursuing tasks related to our careers. There will always be something to do at work; we could never be done! So we need to ensure that we plan to make time for ourselves.
I think it is really important as leaders to intentionally structure our days and weeks so that we ensure we are spending time on the activities and people we value most. This will not happen unless we plan for it! It means setting clear boundaries on our work day and leaving at a certain time. Or scheduling in our family activities. Or not bringing work home with us. Or scheduling in regular exercise or activities that bring us joy. One of the first things that Christina Comaford suggests in finding a good work-life balance is to ensure that we are spending 70% of our time pursuing high value added activities (2018). This means, pursue those activities (both at work and at home), that bring you joy, that feed off your strengths, and that add value to your life and work. We need to reflect on the activities we pursue and ask ourselves – is this really important? Could I delegate someone else to do this? How can I make this more efficient?, so that we can pursue activities of higher value.
Along with this, we should also always be honouring our personal boundaries and practising mindfulness. This helps us not only maintain a strong work-life balance, but keeps us grounded as individuals, and provides time for us as leaders to reflect and think critically about our organization.
By being intentional about doing these few things, we can enjoy a flourishing career, but also invest in the pleasures of life, developing our relationships and our own personal interests.
References:
Ccbeau (2018, November 30). Light of many lamps – Unit 10. [web log comment]. Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/ccbeau/2018/11/30/light-of-many-lamps-unit-10/
Comaford, C. (2018, February 24). 3 Daily actions that guarantee work-life balance for leaders. Forbes. [web log comment]. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/02/24/3-daily-actions-that-guarantee-work-life-balance-for-leaders/#2c5783274ee5.