3 Ways Leaders Can Improve Work-Life Balance

What is your life experience when the work day is complete?

Are you spending time doing things that you love or are you too drained to do anything other than recoup before the next workday begins?

We spend a lot of time at work and the tools that I teach my executive coaching clients show them how to maximize their efforts, stand in their energetic weight and master executive presence. If you aren’t having fun when you aren’t at work, it may be time to reflect.

Life is a balancing act, and work will become less fulfilling if your downtime is void of ease, grace, joy, and fun.

These are the three actions that leaders can do each and every day that will put them on the path towards guaranteeing work-life balance.

Move The Needle: Focus 70% + of your time on HVAs. There will always be a parade of bright shiny objects trying to distract you. Keep those beasts at bay by tracking your high-value activities (HVAs) and low-value activities (LVAs). Resolve to get to 70%+ of HVAs in the next 60 days. Effective delegation increases the amount of time that you will have to focus on the items that will move the needle.

Honor Your Boundaries: Are you honoring your personal life commitments? We all avoid uncomfortable human relations issues sometimes, but what is the cost? It’s exorbitant. As we give our power away and compromise our integrity, we inadvertently teach our brain that not honoring our personal life is acceptable. Set up a new system with healthy boundaries and behaviors that will anchor the fact that a commitment in your personal life is equally as important as a commitment at work.

Embrace Mindfulness Practices: Do you have a mindfulness practice? If not, it may be time to start incorporating at least one mindfulness practice into your daily routine. One of the biggest causes of stress is ruminating, or repeating a certain stressful thought. The brain sets off down an old thinking pattern and stays there. Mindfulness practices teach our brain to pop up out of that old pattern and recognize it for what it is: a default and well-worn groove that we have a choice to step out of. Mindfulness meditation re-grooves the brain and builds a new neurological network. Do it enough and, like the studies show, you can train your brain like a muscle to stay calm and present in the face of adversity or good old daily stresses of life. You can see several mindfulness processes demonstrated here.

They learn how to manage their energy and focus on the actions that only they can do to move the needle in their organization, they honor their boundaries and personal life commitments, and they know how to stop the world and stop their thoughts on command.

Try the three above actions and you’ll find your personal life will be as fun and fulfilling as your work life!

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Have you ever considered using neuroscience to optimize engagement, performance, recruiting, and retention in your organization? At SmartTribes Institute, we continually strive to apply cutting edge neuroscience tools and resources to modern day businesses and people. If you'd like a taste, check out our upcoming Culture Camp! And, of course, apply the practices in these podcast episodes as well.

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Resources Mentioned:

• Culture Camp: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/
• Beyond Your Brain: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/
• High Value Activities/Low Value Activities Examples: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/hva_and_lva_tutorial.pdf
• Effective Delegation Process: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/effective_delegation_process.pdf
• Contact Christine: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/
• Strategy Session: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/

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