Work-life Balance: Clarity and Balance are important to have a successful life.

There is a whirlwind of activity in the UAE after the government decided to go to a 4.5 day work week. There has been a lot of excitement as one would expect. However, there are so many questions as to how this will affect the lives of people. So I wanted to take some time and make some general statements about clarity and balance in the life of a leader.

Clarity

When one talks about work-life balance, it is necessary to start the conversation by getting clarity on where the leader wants to go. There needs to be a conversation about vision, mission and purpose. One of the most unsettling things is that people don’t know where they want to be in the future or the future is so vague. The result is that they end up working more because it is easier, even though they are causing havoc in the rest of their lives. One way to get clarity is to think about what would be said of you when you are 80 years and are attending a “Celebration of Life” where your accomplishments are noted and celebrated. What do you want to be said? Once that is clear, start reverse engineering it into goals and vital habits.

One question frequently asked is, what areas do I need to have clarity it? There is no shortage of opinions on the subject. However, my opinion is that you need to have clarity around the Big 3, Work, **Relationships and Spirituality. All 3 of these areas have a huge impact on our every day lives and whenever the “Big 3” are unclear, it affects every part of the leader.

Balance

Once clarity has been established for the big areas of life, one needs to have balance in 7 areas. The seven areas are Health, Family, Social, Growth, Finances, Spiritual and Work. These areas are vital to helping the leader stay focused and be able to work more effectively. For example, in the area of exercise, we know the benefits to the body, but is also reduces stress and helps one to sleep better and if done with family, relationships can grow stronger. Another example, if a leader has no plan to grow in their personal development plan now, when challenges arrive in the future they will not be able to meet these new challenges effectively.

When the word “balanced” is used one generally thinks evenly distributed. This is not the case and often not possible in the life of the leader. (Now you can breathe a sigh of relief!) We work at least 40 hours a week (however, for some, it is more like 60 hours a week). It is mathematically impossible to spend 40 hours a week in each of the 7 areas. The idea of balance is that each area has its own goal and plan. Obviously, there are some areas the leader will not be good at and might even strongly dislike. An example could be if someone does not like to be social, yet makes a choice to do something with friends once a month.

Many leaders say “I do not have time” to have a balanced life. However, what types of things can blindside you because you do not see it coming? Those are the leaders that will wake up one day and realize that they are estranged from their family, have major health issues, not sure the direction of their company or they don’t have time for their friends because of their job. These are the type results that an unbalanced life can lead to. Get the help of a leadership coach to get you on the road to a balanced life.

Next Steps

Get the help of Strong Advice leadership coach to get the clarity and balance needed in life. Leave a comment and email at bryan@strongadvice.ae to setup an inquiry call.

** the key relationship is the husband/wife. If you are not married, you will need 2 to 3 people that you are close to that can help in this area.

Link to news article: https://gulfnews.com/opinion/editorials/uaes-new-weekend-an-innovative-way-to-design-a-work-life-balance-1.84230312