Another day another…

How do you know that you are the right person for the job? Can you make yourself fall in love with your work? Can you challenge yourself to become more passionate about what you do from day-to-day?

The following are four challenges that can create balance in your life. 

Quality time-In a typical work week the employee can spend 40-50 hours on the job. This does not include the time individuals can spend thinking about their work challenges, worrying, night and week emails and calls or large projects. These work challenges can easily consume another 10-15 hours a week. Sprinkle on top of these 65 hours, a second job of 10-14 hours a week. According to USA Today (2014) on average 5-10% of individuals have multiple jobs. In fact,  according to this report individuals with higher education were among the most those with multiple jobs. You may ask why? Have we just forgotten how to live within our means? Did the information age bring with it the need for Americans to have everything immediately? Are we so busy working to sustain a life style that we robbed ourselves of anytime to live a life?

The challenge is to work hard, achieve results but play even harder and leave quality time to spend with family and friends.

Another day, another dollar-Working hard is important to sustain our existence, pay bills, have a roof over head and food on the table. While working is important to survive, we cannot forget that the main goal of employment is to generate income. With this in mind, realize that working cannot only be about the money. In someways the money is just that, the money. It is important to remember that the money is not the only reward for working hard. The results of working hard can also bring reward. Being committed and caring about the mission of the work can have greater reward than the financial gain. Will being paid more for your work result in more happiness and satisfaction in your accomplishments?  Probably not. Think of the past when you received a raise in your salary. While the first couple paychecks with the increase might have been cause for celebration, the increase is soon used up and forgotten.

The challenge is to identify reasons beyond the money that give you reward for your accomplishments.  Create strategies for polishing your own apple and stop waiting for others to do that for you. 

I hate you don’t leave me-Our daily work can be feel like an amusement park roller coaster. Somedays up and other days down. One day you can feel on the top the world and other days feel like a total failure. It is easy in this type of situation to develop feeling of hate for your day-to-day responsibilities. On another hand, you can get fearful that if you do not produce results, you will be fired and not able to sustain your style of living. This push-pull merry-go-round causes emotional tension. This tension creates the dichotomy of I am unhappy about what I am doing but I cannot loose my job. This burden can be stressful and overtime begin to burn you out.

The challenge is to find balance and create  a  new situation or create a new employment opportunity that you enjoy and are successful.  

The best and the worst of your life-If you let your work define you, it can be a set up for personal failure. It can be like the old saying, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” If you get all your reward in one aspect of your life which is not producing the “love” as they say, you can wind up pretty unhappy. Take it from someone who learned the hard way, do not let your work define you. Work can be seductive and a trap that draws you in then suddenly rejects you. Somehow we have become a “what have you done for me lately society?” Forgetting about loyalty, commitment and mutual respect. This “what is in it for me?” mentality has taken our workplace hostage. Have our work ethics and values vanished? Has corporate America made us all dispensable in trade for wealth?

The challenge is to have things other than your work define you as an individual.  Be an employee and a mother, father, sister, brother, neighbor, artist, engineer, sportsman, writer, musician, gardener, athlete or a person of god. 

Among the many things one of my best friends taught me about life is  “work to live, not live of your work.” To Alex, this was not an excuse or about avoidance, it was about being an accountable, sustainable and present leader. She typically says’ “without work life balance priorities in your life get mixed up, and you begin to resent your work when you forgo quality time with your friends and family. ” Millenniums take notice of leaders like Alex. Being focused on yourself and making sure your needs are met, is not an excuse to avoid or minimize your responsibilities. It is a challenge to create balance in your home and work life, making sure you work hard but protect time to play harder.  Alex is a great role model for young leaders in our society, as she has mastered being an awesome mother, wife, friend and leader. She has figured out the importance working hard while not allowing her work life define who she is but rather what she does each day.