Balance in Life
If you have not visited Jack Yan’s blog yet take some time to check it out. Specifically, I would encourage everyone to read his recent post “Create Your Balance.” I have been actively working on creating the optimal balance in my life for some time, and found Jack’s post both timely and quite helpful.
In a nutshell, Jack boils the issue to one very simple concept (emphasis mine):
“For those who don’t want to overwork themselves and burn out, or aren’t happy in their work, I would ask: what makes you happy in life? If work isn’t making you happy, but something else is, then the logical thing to do is to increase that something else.”
He also points out a few important conditions of good leaders, specifically in relation to the ability to create balance. Calmness, Openness, and Contentedness are the three main conditions he notes, and I couldn’t agree more.
One thing that struck me as I was reading over his post, and relating it to my own experience, is that knowing what you want in life is a key determinant of success. Jack’s question, “what makes you happy in life,” gets to the heart of identifying a person’s drivers. There are so many ways to approach a work-life balance self-evaluation, but none are as simple and effective as examining what makes you happy.
Here are a few questions I have been asking myself:
- Do I want more time with my family?
- A greater ability to travel?
- Less stress?
- More fulfillment from my work?
- A greater purpose with my work?
- More time to dedicate to charity?
- More time with my friends?
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