How To Find Margin For Your Total Life

If there has ever been a day when the demands of work and home have been greater I am not aware of it.  The sheer pace of life today leaves us emotionally and physically worn out and feeling empty at the end of most days.

Technology keeps us connected all the time and people in the workplace culture almost demand that we stay available 24-7.  Our families are all running on the same high speed treadmill that produces stress in every area of our lives.

There are several key principles that must be in place if you want to create margin for the people and priorities that you care about the most:

1.  Lead Yourself First—it is impossible to successfully help lead other people at work or in the home if you are not able to accomplish what is most important in your own life.  You should set specific goals in the areas of health, personal development and faith with the necessary time allotment to make sure they get done.
2. Prioritize Your Family Next—at the end of your life it will not matter how much professional success you have had if you consistently neglected your role as a spouse and parent.  There are no guarantees that time alone will produce a great marriage and character driven children but without it there is a high probability that both areas could fail.
3. Choose Right Career—most organizations are looking for people who will perform and improve their bottom line.  However there is a growing awareness that if you want to attract and keep the best people you have to give some deference to work-life balance.  The key is you have to be outstanding at what you do and you have to be in a culture that will reward that effort by giving you more time off and not more projects to accomplish.
4. Develop Life Plan—it never ceases to amaze me that some of the most effective leaders in the corporate arena do not practice any of the leadership disciplines that made them successful in their home and personal life.  The can lead multi-million dollar projects from start to finish at work but not take more than 30 minutes to plan the annual family vacation.

When you develop a total life plan with goals and strategies for everything personal, private and public you just assumed the C.E.O.  leadership role for your whole life.   You will never have a more important job.