The last post I wrote was on February 27. Today is March 13. Somehow in between then and now I lost a whole bunch of days in my life – both online and offline. Unfortunately things happened that took me away from the places where I needed to be focusing my energies – both in work and in life. A lot of things. I now know that it was not good for this to happen as it was emotionally very challenging for me. Now that I have had some time to think and refocus, I am determined to ensure I don’t get sidelined like that again in the future. I have identified strategies to help keep myself more on track – in all areas of my life.
For the last six months I have been working on many areas of growing both myself and my business. As part of this work I have been developing a series of checks and balances, personal development strategies and other systems to move myself forward. I have had a plan that I have been building toward; however what I did not do was work to totally align my business plan with my overall life plan. Now don’t get me wrong – in my head I was aligning them very closely – but I had not fully integrated them in a way that made total sense to me. Given that I am considered to be an expert in work-life this is actually quite ironic when you think about it. I am now working on this and will share more about it in the near future. For now I am calling it Plan 58.
Recently I have been thinking a lot about the whole issue of work and life. What I have determined is that the concept of work-life balance, work-life harmony or whatever you want to call it is totally overrated. I am now at a place in my life where I am no longer able to separate my work from my life. Further, I actually don’t want to. Work is an integral part of my life – it brings me huge fulfillment. It brings me joy. It brings me challenge. I love what I do in my work world and I want to do more of it. Lots of it. I want to do work that doesn’t even feel like work. Now at the same time I also love my family. They also fullfil me and they challenge me. They bring me joy. They mean everything to me. I want to connect with them more. Here’s the thing though – my work and my family are all mixed up. There are no clear boundaries or lines. So in the end there is really only my overall life. Work, family, joy, laughter, challenge and sadness – they are all part of life. All I really want is an intentional and connected life. A life that gives to others, that makes a difference and that enables me to have the freedom and flexibility that allows me to do the very best I can for myself, my family and the people/partners that I care about. I believe that if I build my life around values, purpose, intention and connection then ultimately I will be able to live the very best life that I can.
What kind of life do you want? What matters to you?
