Personal & Professional Balance

Work-Life Integration

Senior executives are especially driven individuals. Their dedication, vision, and ability to execute produce exceptional results for their companies and organizations.

There are times when they get so consumed with work that they forget to have a life. All waking hours are given to mission and the bottom line. Time with family is sacrificed. Time for self is non-existent. Time to develop new relationships is an afterthought – some even look back on their lives and realize they missed the window to have children, or to find and/or care for the love of their life – or – loved ones, or to be the parent they always envisioned for their children. Sometimes the stress of work manifests as poor health.

The key is having a balanced investment across personal and professional goals – to keep focused on what is most important to you in all of these areas at all times. A simple exercise it to create a quad chart using the following categories: Professional, Personal, Family, and Spiritual. Capture three to four goals for each. Questions to reflect on while filling out the chart and during your coaching sessions are found throughout the blog postings and include:

• 1. What is my life’s purpose? What gives me meaning?


• 2. What do I hope to accomplish personally and professionally in the next three to five years in these four areas? Others?


• 3. What gives me energy? What do I do to relieve stress and recharge? How do I ensure spiritual connection, mindfulness, resilience, positivity, faith, etc.? What feeds my soul?


• 4. What are my eight core values, the elements of my internal compass? What uniquely makes me me?


• 5. What do I really want here? What is my truest intention?


• 6. How can I realize my potential more fully?

These items can easily be transferred into your Individual or Executive Development Plan. They form the basis of what is truly important to you and therefore should be used to inform, guide, and prioritize your time, energy, and resources. By honoring your priorities, you can live an authentic life – which is when you are at your best, fulfilled self.

When you look for ways to integrate more personal goals into your life you will naturally have to find professional commitments to let go.

“Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.”
- Rumi, poet, scholar, theologian, mystic