The Work Life Balance Fallacy

Work Life Balance as a concept has one serious inherent flaw.  It to some degree assumes that everything has equal value and you end up in a win-lose dynamic when one of your plates stops spinning.  I love the concept of integration and Alyssa Oursler does a great job in Read more…

The Priority Of A Life Plan

All of us have become proficient at doing all the major components of the business plan at work.  We know how to define goals, create plans, execute priorities and evaluate success. However, very few of us use these same disciplines to help lead our personal lives.  Research shows that approximately Read more…

A Simple Way To Combat Chronic Stress

We just finished a three week marathon of moving into a new house and doing most of the packing and moving ourselves.  Needless to say the stress levels are still out the roof and I found these simple techniques posted by the HBR to be helpful: “For most leaders today, Read more…

Leadership’s Responsibility In Life After Work

I really get amped when the whole conversation of work-life balance is addressed.  Many bottom line supervisors really don’t seem to mind if people take too much work home and stay connected 24/7.  However, they must realize that everyone brings home to work every day and it definitely impacts performance. Read more…

Why Busyness Is Not Badge Of Honor

The harder we work the more we get done right?  Wrong!!!!  Actually, the reverse may be true because at some point in time we lose our margin and stop being effective at anything.  Being over scheduled is definitely not something to brag about and according to Mark Merrill we must Read more…

10 Ways To Create Margin

A simple definition of margin is the space between our load and our limits.  It is the opposite of overload because you will have something in reserve for a time when you will need it. Richard Swenson wrote an incredible book entitled Margin to help us learn how to restore Read more…

3 Ways To Regain Personal Momentum

When negative things are happening in your life and you feel like you are in a deep hole and cannot see how to get out there are three key personal leadership disciplines that will help you get your positive momentum back. The first is Perspective.  When things are not going Read more…

Stop Trying To Achieve Work-Life Balance

I have never like the whole concept of work-life balance.  It implies that both areas have equal importance and the honest truth is they don’t.  Balance also creates competing priorities instead of integrating your life around core values.  Mark Merrill has some compelling thoughts: “I’m talking about the work-life balance Read more…

7 Things There Will Never Be Enough Time For

One of the biggest turning points in my leadership journey was when I saw Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  Up until that point, I was almost 100% reactive and never thought about taking responsibility for things that were important but not urgent.  Carey Read more…