Achieving a Better Work-Life Blend in 2019 by Jennifer Janechek
In his forthcoming book, Motivate THIS!: How to Start Each Day with an Unstoppable Attitude to Succeed Regardless of Your Circumstances, Steve Rizzo writes: “If you put most of your time and energy into one area, you run the risk of leaving the other unfulfilled. This is especially common among high achievers.” According to Rizzo, it’s important that we dedicate quality time to our work, but a problem arises when this work interferes with what he terms our “cherished values.” Examples he gives of such core values include spending more time with family, establishing technology (and work)-free personal times, and engaging in activities that satisfy our spiritual and emotional needs.
Rizzo encourages readers to brainstorm what activities feed their spiritual and emotional selves and to shift their priorities so that they can achieve a better work-life blend. Using his prompts, I identified three goals related to my core values: spending more time being fully present with my family (a.k.a. not scrolling Instagram, checking e-mail, or worrying about professional commitments), dedicating time each day to personal enrichment through reading parenting and self-improvement books, and committing to 30 minutes of regular exercise each day.
Next, I needed to determine how I spend my day and evaluate each of my responsibilities to determine whether they are bringing me closer to, or pushing me away from, my cherished values. Once I mapped out my daily activities, I used Rizzo’s three “free-will will questions” to scrutinize my commitments:
Will there be personal consequences to this choice I’m making?
Will this choice affect others, now and in the future?
Will this choice make me happy, now and in the future?
By applying Rizzo’s free-will will questions to each of my regular activities, I was able to determine which commitments are worth the time they require and which ones could be cut or reorganized in order to free up more time for living out my cherished values. The interesting this is, deep down I already knew which pursuits didn’t align with my core values and needed to be cut, but journaling responses to these questions gave me the motivation I needed to implement much-needed changes.
So in 2019, I’ll be saying “no” to voluntary side commitments unless they specifically align with my goals; repurposing the time I lose to Internet surfing while I drink my morning coffee, instead dedicating those first 30 minutes of the morning to reading personal development and parenting books; and implementing 2-hour power work sessions, using one work break for a 30-minute workout or running session.
I am excited to implement these new habits because I firmly believe they will enhance my professional success while also encouraging a significantly better work-life blend. So, win-win, right? I found Rizzo’s book very helpful in enabling me to see that it’s possible—and, in fact, completely necessary—to cultivate both areas of your life at the same time. I hope it will do the same for you!
Read more advice on how to motivate yourself to identify and live out your values and then shift your priorities accordingly in Steve Rizzo’s Motivate THIS!, available for preorder now.
What resolutions do you have for 2019? Do any of these relate to work-life balance? If so, how do you plan to shift your priorities to live a life that more directly reflects your cherished values? Share in the comments below!
Motivate THIS!: How to Start Each Day with an Unstoppable Attitude to Succeed Regardless of Your Circumstances will be released on February 19, 2019, but you can preorder your copy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and other fine retailers.