Balance Work and Life

There is a lot written about gaining balance in your life. Everyone has their story and I’m happy to share mine.

In the early years of starting our home building business, 60 hour weeks were the norm! When we hired staff 10 years later, long workweeks were STILL the norm. There was never enough time to get everything done at work. Work was cheating my family time. It was nearly impossible to achieve the elusive work life balance.

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Picture the work life balance like a scale…one side wins and the other side loses. We need to learn to “cheat” at work and stop cheating at home. We often cheat our family by spending too much time at work, or on fitness, or a hobby. Cut back on being so “busy” and be balanced!

What’s your Life Plan?

Whoa… I realize even for the organized and responsible person a life plan can sound intimidating. After all, aren’t there so many unexpected events? But here’s a thought for those of you that have narrowed your focus and turned your car into a rolling university like I mentioned when I asked Who Has Time For That? That focus and balance fits into your life plan.  Here’s how.

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Teachers like Zig Ziglar has something he calls the “wheel of life.”

The seven spokes on the wheel represent different areas in our lives that must be balanced for our lives to turn evenly. He says that unless you have yourself in shape in a variety of ways, then you are in no shape to help and serve others.

7 Reasons Why Generosity Is Missing and Why It Matters

Most people are looking for the cue from others when it comes to giving. Consider some of the recent campaigns for various causes that have gone “viral” – people follow leaders in giving. But many don’t know what it means to enjoy generous living. Despite the viral campaigns that catch our attention the facts remain, tax returns show only 23% of Canadians give anything at all. Truth is generosity brings contentment. Generosity breaks the bond of materialism and discontentment.

Save, stingy businessman, saving money, man in white shirt with funny expressions

Generosity provides meaning and purpose……that means that 77% of Canadians are discontent!

 

Generous living directs your focus on one goal: Be rich towards God.

Consider the clear picture Jesus portrayed in the parable of the Rich Fool.

 

 

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

‘Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’

‘But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

‘This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.’

Luke 12:16 – 21

Resources

Here is a list of books and other resources I have mentioned in my articles and have found them useful.  I hope you will find them helpful. If you would like to suggest some resources, please let me know by leaving a reply at the bottom of this page.

Attitude

Leadership-Podcast    Make-Today-Count    Life-Plan    The-Power-Of-Full-Engagement    The-Power-Of-Positive-Thinking    Listen-and-Learn

 

Character

SevenHabitsOfHighlyEffectivePeople    TheStrangestSecret    TakingResponsibilityForYourLife

 

Priorities

SevenHabitsOfHighlyEffectivePeople    80-20Principle    ThePrincipleOfThePath    TheBestQuestionEver    Margin

 

Leadership

Leadership-Podcast    TravellersGift    Leadership101    EntreLeadership    Make-Today-Count    MagicOfThinkingBig    NextGenerationLeader    TheElement    ThinkAndGrowRich

 

Business Entrepreneurship

StrengthsFinder20    48DaysToTheWorkYouLove    EmythRevisited    EntreLeadership    TheStrangestSecret    4HourWorkWeek    Tribes    IcarusDeception    OneMinuteManager    WhoMovedMyCheese    80-20Principle    $100Startup    GoodToGreat    Make-Today-Count

 

Personal Finances

 

Balanced    TotalMoneyMakeover    TheMillionaireNextDoor    ThouShallProsper    TheRichestManInBabylon    TheAutomaticMillionaire    TheMillionaireMind

 

Faith

NorthpointCommunityChurchPodcast    YourMove    TheStory    HowGoodIsGoodEnough    PurposeDrivenLife    TheMEIWantToBe    LoveDoes    PilgrimsProgress

 

Family

Margin    WhenWorkAndFamilyCollide    TheElement

 

Generosity

TheTreasurePrinciple    FieldsOfGold    HowToBeRich

 

Health

YoungerNextYear    Life-Plan    WhenWorkAndFamilyCollide

 

 

Relationships

 

LoveAndRespect    BosCafe

 

Values

Halftime

 

Home Building

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Achieve Your Goals

How can I encourage and motivate others to achieve what they set out to do? These are questions I’ve been asking myself.

How can I be engaging, inspiring and helpful in motivating others to achieve their success?

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I’ve made a habit of writing out my life goals .. checking and updating them regularly. Looking back it is amazing to see, by God’s grace, how many have been achieved. Apparently, only 3% of people have written goals. If you don’t write your plan down … you are less likely to achieve it.