So – I am working on my latest book after a three year hiatus from writing. In 2015, I published Organize Your Life, and to this day have people stop me to share their gratitude for how that book has helped them re-claim their lives. In this new book, I am going 3D – Down, Dirty, and Direct – no fluff, just honest truth and stories from people who refused to embrace more balance and either ended up very sick, divorced, or worse.
Some people believe that work-life balance is a unicorn. In business, a unicorn is someone who achieves mythical success while the masses chalk it up to rarity as opposed to something obtainable. My experience is to not believe in myth but instead to believe in recipes. If something can be created once, it can be created again if we follow the same steps. Thus, if work-life balance is a unicorn, I say – ride it!
In working on this book, I have met many people who were forced to embrace some form of balance because they got to a point where something had to change. They either needed to leave their job and pursue their dream business or stop working seven days per week, or re-configure their priorities so they could save their family. Balance, instead of being something ridiculously mythical, and thus easy to discount, became a survival mechanism.
Knowing when it is time to make some major changes is not so easy. Often, we get to the point where our body is sending us signals:
- waking up in the middle of the night unable to fall back to sleep
- exhaustion
- irritability
- not feeling like ourselves
- lacking passion
- lacking drive
- feeling worthless
- getting sick often
- becoming extremely ill
A few years ago, my friend, Ken, told me, upon being diagnosed with stage four terminal cancer, that he had given himself the disease. His refusal to balance out his life, his relentless pursuit of growing his company, getting stressed out over minor issues, and constantly be his family’s chief problem solver, took his tension to new levels.
Ken, very sadly, passed however not before spending one year living a more balanced life where he spent weekends with his kids, frequented school lunches, let his employees make more decisions, and stop to smell the roses. He also did one of the most effective, bold acts and released anyone from his life who wasn’t positive and supportive.
I observe many people who delude themselves into thinking that they can work non-stop and that nothing bad will happen. Let me say this, from experience – the more balls you have in the air, the more balls that can fall at the same time. I have seen many women especially burn themselves out, end up with adrenal fatigue, irritable, angry, and bitter. They then piece their lives together with tissue paper with naturopaths, massage therapists, and the occasional yoga class never fully re-prioritizing and wondering why they remain overwhelmed.
Taking the necessary, and liberating, actions to create work-life balance are definitely daunting and that is why so many people feel that work-life balance simply doesn’t exist. My friend, it does exist and I am committed to helping you find it.
Let’s ride this unicorn together. Let’s re-claim your life and your sanity.
