The #2 business challenge I hear most often is “I have no work/life balance”. I’m sure you know it’s an issue because it's hard to get through a week without seeing another article, book or TV show about "Work/Life Balance." Speaking from experience, I know work can easily consume not only your time but your mind.

However, I’ll disagree that the issue is balancing your work and your life. While the phrase is catchy, it is not work and life that you need to balance. It is blancing your life; bringing all the parts of your life into balance, not just work. Work is one part of your life. (important, yes, but just one.)What about all the other things you do? You have to choose between many options, one of them being work.

In the Ocular Forum, we begin the discussion of success with just this topic, balance. Just think about your roles and how you spend your time. You're a “Businessperson”. You may be a “Spouse” or a “Partner”. You might be a “Parent”. You spend time on personal development and education so you might be a “Student”. You may participate in a church or community organization so you might be a “Community Volunteer”. You have family and friends that you have relationships with so there are those roles as well.

Having a balanced life is not balance like a scale, either. Scales work fine if you have only two things to balance and the “value” of each is equal. This life balance is like balancing colors in a room.

First, there is a limited amount of space to put color; the physical size of the room. That's like your limited amount of time. No matter how we try, there are only 86,400 seconds in a day.

What you do with one color affects how you experience the others. Let’s say you love the colors Royal Blue and Soft Butter Yellow. Imagine the difference in a room with Royal Blue walls and a Butter Yellow sofa. Now imagine the room with Butter Yellow walls and a Royal Blue sofa. It makes a difference, right? As my Mom says, “Sometimes a little goes a long way.” Life is like that, too. When your work is Royal Blue it can sometimes overpower the Soft Butter Yellow parts of your life.

Also, how you choose to spend your time affects more than just you. There are key stakeholders in your life. They're people who love you, people who depend on you and people you have relationships with. It is important for you to keep them in mind when you're making decisions about your time.

Just as with choosing colors for a room, there's no right way to live your life. In the 1970s, the Caterpillar Tractor Company ran a famous series of ads with the tagline: "There are no easy solutions, there are only intelligent choices."

That's what you're left with: intelligent choices. If you choose to take time to exercise, that's time you won't be spending at a community function. Is one more important or less important than the other? Only you can say. You can make bold choices consciously or you can let them happen to you. What choices are you making?

Action Steps

Make a list of all the significant roles in your life.

List the stakeholders in your life.

Determine which two or three are getting the most attention. If you're in doubt, review your checkbook and calendar.

Make note of anything you want to change. Before you stand up, define one action that will take you in that direction. Put it on your calendar or To Do list.

The #1 challenge? Marketing and promotion; what else? Stay tuned.

Sponsored by Bold Vision Consulting, the Ocular Forum is a membership based confidential peer group for non-competing business owners and independent professionals eager to support each other in growing a successful business.

An Ocular Forum membership supports long-term and annual planning helping you keep your eye on the “prize”. You get a system for planning AND implementation and follow through, support, encouragement, and confidential advice while your partners hold you accountable for taking the actions important to your success. There are two Ocular Forum memberships being formed:

Portland Maine – Applications due September 14

Waltham, Massachusetts – Applications due September 14

Meetings are monthly and membership in each Ocular Forum group is limited to 6 members.

Call 207-221-3492 or visit http://www.boldvisionconsulting.com/OcularForum.php for more information.

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