Balancing Your Professional and Personal Life in the New Millennium
Copyright 2001 Diane Wolf

As if the stress of making New Year's resolutions wasn't bad enough, now we have the added pressure of New Century/New Millennium resolutions to contend with. I would like to suggest that we abolish the practice of planning all the great things we are going to do this year, only to feel like a failure by January 5th, and that we replace all those resolutions with a simple decision to achieve a more balanced lifestyle this year.

The danger for many managers and entrepreneurs is that we focus too much on work, at the expense of the other areas in our lives. We can't seem to leave work at "work" or in our home office, we drag it into our home lives. We think that we will make time for exercise, proper eating, family time etc. at some point in the future. Newsflash: we can't make time! We have as much time NOW as we will ever have, 24 hours a day. If we are not balancing our priorities, we will fall over, just as a three-legged stool needs to have legs of equal length. Balancing the following three areas in our lives will give us the stability we need to face future challenges.

1. Physical
We all know that our cars need regular maintenance, oil changes and gasoline to function efficiently, yet some of us treat our (replaceable) vehicles far better than we treat our bodies! We are often too rushed for a proper breakfast, drink too much coffee and snack later in the day when our bodies need LESS fuel, rather than more. In addition, as managers and entrepreneurs, we often spend our days sitting at the computer, talking on the phone, sitting in the car driving to work/appointments, then sitting with clients. Indoor parking, escalators and elevators eliminate the need for physical exertion, so we join health clubs we don't have time to attend. We feel guilty spending time on ourselves when we have so much work to do. Let's change our ATTITITUDE! It is no more selfish to take care of our bodies than it is to take care of our children or our vehicles. The BEST gift you can give the people who love you is a healthy you! Don't wait until your work is done (it will never be done), go ahead and schedule a trip to the gym. Here are some tips to actually get there (or get active).

1. Sign up with a friend, and make an appointment to meet him/her there once a week at a regular time. Once a week is easier to commit to than three times a week. If you can go consistently once a week for several months, this will become a habit. Then, you can add a second appointment, with a different friend if need be. It's a great way to keep up your friendships as you chat on the treadmill or bicycles, or relax in the sauna together. Now I know that to be effective, exercise should be done at least 3 times a week, but too many of us start out with that intention and only last 2 weeks. Why not start slowly and build up. In 6 months you could easily be at 3 times a week and be sticking with it!

2. Become a fitness instructor. I actually did this several years ago, because I couldn't skip the aerobics class if I was teaching it! Somehow knowing that other people were counting on me made it seem less selfish to go. (I know, that seems a bit pathetic, doesn't it…) I think it worked particularly well for me because I love to teach, so it fulfilled several goals at once (and I do love to be efficient!)

3. If you don't want to join a club, find a sport that you enjoy and find a friend to hold you accountable, or to participate with you. Find a neighbour to walk with in the mornings or evenings. Find someone in the same business as you are to walk with, so that you can have a mini-mastermind group as you walk.

4. The best of all: make a commitment as a family to do something physical. Cycling, walking, tobogganing etc. It is so hard to pull ourselves away from our work, but a 30 minute walk can give us extra energy and clarity of thought that make up for the time spent. What a terrific investment in our important relationships with the positive side effect of improved health.

Of course, proper nutrition also needs to become a priority. There is an abundance of medical evidence to show that proper nutrition not only provides fuel for the day, it can prevent disease of all sorts from cancer to osteoporosis. Simply put, eating a diet which is high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains, low in red meat and dairy products, and using fat and sugar sparingly can significantly improve your health. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of excellent books available on this subject. I'm still looking for the book that lists chocolate as a main food group. I'll let you know if I find it!

2. Spiritual/Emotional
We need to take time to nurture the spiritual/emotional parts of ourselves. Otherwise we risk burnout, depression, loss of relationships, and physical illness. We are like batteries that run down and need to be re-charged on a regular basis. Too often, this is the first area we neglect because the results are not immediate. But there is a price to pay for ignoring the fact that we have an inborn need to find meaning. Abraham Maslow spoke about the hierarchy of needs and the search for self-actualization. Other psychologists speak of the need for meaning and significance. Whatever you choose to call it, we were created with a desire to find purpose in our lives, to feel that who we are matters somehow. Find something to be passionate about, a cause to care about, a reason to develop a positive attitude. 

I know that there have been a lot of books written on developing a positive attitude, it has become almost cliché. But we all know how quickly the people around us can affect our mood. If you are finding it difficult to cope with your life, you may need a rest, a change of scenery, or to surround yourself with people who make you feel more positive. Emotional exhaustion is more difficult to deal with than physical exhaustion, because it is difficult to find rest. This is NOT a sign of weakness! It is the courageous person who learns to take the rest they need BEFORE it is obvious to others. Did I mention that physical exercise also has the benefit of improving our emotional state, as well as making it easier for us to find rest which refreshes?

3. Mental
Despite what we might have been taught in school, real education is not so much the filling of a mind with facts, but the ignition of a lifelong passion for learning. Never stop educating yourself in your areas of career or interests. You will never experience boredom if you always have a few books on the go. Read books that will expand your mind, teach you new skills, challenge your intellect or give you a release of emotions (there's nothing wrong with a book that makes you cry….. .) Don't just read a book, highlight it, take notes, mark it up, interact with it! Education is found not just in books (although as a self-confessed bookworm, I am somewhat biased!). Take a course, surf the internet, join an interest club, meet people who have had experiences completely different from your own, do crossword puzzles, watch mystery movies, take up a new hobby, there are dozens of activities you can participate in that will stimulate your brain cells. It's the old "use it or lose it" strategy. The positive side effect is that you will become a much more interesting person!

If you feel somewhat stressed and overwhelmed entering this new millennium, consider the possibility that one of your three main areas (body, mind and spirit) may be neglected. Before you tip over, make a commitment to devote yourself to making a balanced lifestyle a real priority now, and into the future. This is a resolution you can keep!