Make the Time
What is your definition of success?
Is it measurable in terms of wealth? Is it a corner office with your name on the door? Or is it having the ability to let go of negativity so that nothing holds you back? Embracing challenges and overcoming obstacles gracefully? Is success to achieve that elusive work-life balance?
Some would say that their idea of success would be finding balance in the unstable world of personal and professional demands. They want to be leaders at work but also be romantic partners, involved parents, and reliable friends. And naturally, this desire to have it all comes with its challenges.
Work-life balance has become the stuff of legend – an oxymoron, at best. It feels as if one always needs to give way. One will suffer for the other to succeed. Is achieving balance even possible? How do you put in overtime at work to meet a deadline but still make a homemade dinner at home? What if your company’s annual retreat and your wedding anniversary land on the same weekend?
Instead of aiming for work-life balance, the truly successful people are more realistic and strive to juggle the two instead. I call it synergy.
When juggling, you’ve got more than one ball up in the air while you’ve got a hold on one. The balls get passed from hand to hand with one or more tossed up and the point is to never let them fall to the ground. This is the perfect sequence that successful people strive for – to have a handle on all the elements of their life without ever failing to catch one and let everything tumble down.
The reality is that you can only really have a firm grip on one thing in your life at a time and trust that the other aspects of your life will do just fine until you turn your attention back on them. You do this by giving each task at hand your full attention when it’s their turn. Prioritize and plan ahead. Recognize the gaps and fill them. This is synergistic alignment at its best.
The most successful people don’t just trust that life will naturally fall into its place.
They plan, calculate, and schedule to ensure that it does. Without it, your commitments may clash, and you find yourself choosing between overtime at work or the dinner with your partner. These predicaments are avoidable with careful planning and proper footing.
There is an art in balancing. It’s called realizing few things are ever in a perfect balance, but things can be synergistic and occupy its rightful space in time.
I should also add, for all of your multi-taskers out there one last point. While you’re grinding and learning to allow your life to come into synergistic alignment don’t forget to include yourself. Take some time to breathe. Enjoy a massage. Go for a walk. Get a mani-pedi. Do something that brings you peace that will put things into perspective. Allow yourself time to recharge, so you increase your work efficiency and give your energy levels for play a boost.
Dr. Yashima White Azilove
I am an international speaker, certified coach and skilled consultant with over 20 years of corporate brand communications executive experience in the media, entertainment, healthcare and financial service industries. I now use my expertise in brand communications to ELEVATE audiences, corporations, celebrity/talent and faith organizations.