#WorkLifeBalance is NOT Compromise...It's Next Level Stuff

People are multi-dimensional. YOU are multi-dimensional. "Multi-passionate" you could say.

When you're seeking to make a change, make a decision, or "fix" something in your life, improve something, add, delete, minimize or maximize something in your life...do you look at it as if it's 2-dimensional? Like it's an isolated incident or area of your life? 

There's no such thing as a 2-D decision.

Whatever you do (or don't do) in one area of your life has implications on the other areas of your life.

In reality - it's often easier to see things as part of the big picture (which may be counter-intuitive). Tackling challenges through the lens of the big picture gives you much-needed perspective because you're considering how this decision/change/transition relates to the rest of your life. It's actually LESS stressful to do so.

To NOT consider the big picture leads to over-committing oneself, straining relationships, constant overwhelm, and/or feelings of not being enough.

You're never SOLELY building your career. You're never ONLY forging a relationship. You're never EXCLUSIVELY creating your BODY's health and fitness. All of these areas of your life inevitably affect the other areas of your life. 

You're always building YOUR LIFE. 

It's unrealistic to think that a decision you make about your career or business won't affect the rest of your life. It absolutely WILL.

Let's say you decide to make a major change at work. Maybe it's to open a new division of your company, or make a big personnel change - hiring or firing a person or group of people, or change the role you play in your business. If you work for someone else - perhaps you're considering taking a new job at a different company or a promotion with your current company. But whatever the change...it's something big.

Saying yes to this major change might have an impact on how much time you have with your family, or how much time you spend working out, or where you work out or how. At the very least it will have an impact on the company whose mission you work toward every day.

Sometimes that "YES" means big changes elsewhere in your life; sometimes it means small changes elsewhere. Regardless of the size of the impact, your decision does have an effect on you and those in your life.

YOU are multi-dimensional and multi-passionate (having interest in more than one thing). So when making decisions, consider how it will affect the rest of your life. 

My husband, during his recent job search, was getting close to an offer with a company he really liked. He felt a connection with the people he'd be working for and with. He loved their philosophy, values, and how they lived up to them. It looked like a really good match. And it WAS a good match as long as he looked solely at the career move, a 2-dimensional viewpoint.

However, saying yes to the job and being ALL IN for it meant him traveling to another city every Monday and working there all week, returning home on Friday. 

Folks - we're still newlyweds! We were right around our 2-year anniversary mark when this decision was on the table. Hello!

AND...our daughter (technically his daughter, my step-daughter) is 8 years old. Our schedule is that we see her on Thursday nights and every other weekend. Now, of course he would have come home on Thursdays to see her but...with his job being 3 hours away...puts him being home at 8 PM or so. Her bedtime is 8:30.  That doesn't leave much time for us as a family. 

He said something on the way to dinner one night about how he didn't want to be away from home and his family but that he was so excited about this opportunity. He had thought about it logically, of course, but hadn't altogether made the emotional connection of how that would be and feel. 

I told him I knew he didn't WANT to be away from us but that was the cold hard reality that was getting ready to happen if he said yes. (Which I thoroughly supported if it was a "hell yes" for him.) But he instantly saw it. I noticed the implications wash over him. His demeanor and attitude about the job changed just like that [finger snap].

And THAT is how many of our goals really affect us.

No part of your life is in a vacuum. The neat little walls you think you have between this area and that area don't really exist. They are more fake than the news.

I think when we sit down to set goals (and I include myself in this club) we do what we've been taught...SMART goals...over here at work or over there in fitness. This category/area or that one. Work goals. Fitness goals. Marriage goals. Money goals. etc.

Those SMART goals definitely have their place. But if you only focus on a granular level like that - you miss the big picture. Sometimes, by setting so many separate goals, people just end up creating a bigger to-do list versus creating a life they love.

Start with a LIFE you love.

You need the BIG vision. The picture of what you want the whole thing to look like. Ideally, a picture that allows for all the things you want in life to live together in harmony. 

By the way...my husband halted the conversations with that company after our conversation. He ended up getting a great offer from another company, which is also a great match. But, unlike the other company and role, he will be able to easily commute home every night and even work from home at times. That picture is much more in alignment with what he wants for his LIFE...what WE want for OUR lives.

#WorkLifeBalance #WorkLifeHarmony :

It's NOT a compromise...it's an even better solution. To get there you must believe it will happen, work to find it, and have faith to manifest it.

THAT is what #WorkLifeBalance can look like.

Today is the day to #GoForIt and #Live Deliberately.

Founder, Personal Evolution Co.