Imagine being so effective at your work or business that you have the freedom to enjoy your family without interruption, travel to various locations around the world on extended vacations, and have the time to experience as much of life as you possibly can – all while getting more done in your work or business than ever before. How does that sound? If it doesn’t sound good, you should stop reading right now.

Business and work can be fun and may even be a passion in your life, but there is so much more to life than just business and work. There is love and connection with those around you, giving to others and contributing to the world, having fun and excitement from variety in your life, learning new things and growing as a person, and being physically vital and full of energy. To really lead a fulfilled life, we need to strike a balance between our work and our play.

Maybe you’re thinking, “Yeah guys, it’s real easy to type the words but it’s quite another thing to actually live in that balance.” You are absolutely right; it is easier to say this than to do it. It seems that most people who dream of this lifestyle also have ambition in their work which makes it all the more complicated. To be honest, there is good news and bad news here. The bad news is achieving balance between our passion in work and our passion in other areas of life is something that we never really achieve… it is more of an ongoing process that we continually work and improve on. The good news is we have found some great tips along our journeys that we want to share

Tip # 1: What you shouldn’t do!

Don’t try to shift to “total balance” overnight. You can’t set up the appropriate systems to allow for balance that quickly. Remember, balance is about bringing everything to a higher level of effectiveness. Start implementing some strategies in your work environment to allow for a shift of your time elsewhere, and the tips below explain exactly how.

Tip # 2: Eliminate distractions and “time-sucks!”

If you want to be physically fit, generally you lower your overall caloric intake, insure the calories you consume are better quality, and burn more calories than you absorb through activity. The exact same concept is true here. Calories are tasks. So you’ll want to lower your tasks so that most of the things you are doing are high quality tasks and then by acting on them, you are burning through the most productive activities you can.

To do this, we need to get rid of distractions and “time-sucks.” You know what they are… the 70 emails every day that you receive, getting sucked into social media daily, and the calls from employees or co-workers telling you about this issue or that issue. Every time you go to start a meaningful project, you are distracted by these things. Think about it, how many times have you started your day with a list of important to-dos, opened your emails and before you know it, it’s 11AM and you still haven’t gotten one thing on your list completed?

Social media is a lot like email and maybe even worse. Again, if you must check your social media daily, do it just after your emails each day and only for 30 minutes max. If your business or work requires you to post status messages and add content regularly, spend time at the beginning of the week getting all of that together and use a service where you can schedule those status updates and are not required to log in to your social media accounts. There are lots of these services out there – we use TweetDeck.

Tip # 3: Schedule your everyday interruptions!

A strategy that has had immense impact on our lives is to schedule set times to deal with communications each day. Let the people you communicate with know ahead of time that you are limiting when it is that you are responding to them. Send an email to all of your contacts stating that in order for you to be more effective at handling all of their needs, you will only be responding between 12-1 PM and then again between 4-5 PM each day. This lets them know not to expect responses from you except between those times. If you have a few people who constantly email you with issues, you may want to talk with them to arrange steps for them to handle these issues on their own or plan to not have them resolved until you check your email. Empower them to do more!

NOTE – Never make your first email check of the day in the morning. This starts your day off with all of the distractions. Give yourself a few hours to get really important tasks done first. You’ll be amazed at how much gets done.

Tip # 4: Handle unplanned interruptions in a new way!

Ideally, while you are being productive, turn your phones off. If this is impossible, it’s time to learn a new way to handle those conversations. Whenever you answer your phone, start the conversation by saying something like “I am right in the middle of something important but how can I help?” This lets the caller know that time is of the essence so they need to be quick.

If a caller has an issue that requires your attention, prioritize it and handle it accordingly. However, ask yourself this question, “How can I arrange it so this person never has to call me again for this issue?” Then, begin at once to implement your strategy.

Tip # 5: Go on a no-meeting-diet!

Unless your boss mandates that you attend, there is little reason to be at meetings. We generally never have meetings because in most cases, they are a waste of time. In cases where you can’t get away from a meeting but do have authority over the meeting, prepare a detailed outline of what will be discussed, how long each item will take, and when the meeting is scheduled to end, regardless of progress. If you have a boss, you might suggest that in an effort to be more effective, your company could have someone prepare that document for your whole team.
In situations where your team needs to meet to plan or brainstorm, have them meet and come up with their best ideas and plans and send you a detailed document for your review at the end of the meeting. Most times a 2 hour meeting fits in a couple paged document or less. Think of the time saved!

Tip # 6: Get Gatekeepers!

You want to make sure that you are absolutely necessary in any situation you are involved with. If you have co-workers, assistants, partners or anyone that can help, utilize them! Start an information chain, making sure that information only reaches you when it has no place left to go. Empower the people around you to make decisions. Start this process by having them send you their ideas for response before sending them to clients. You can review them and give them suggestions. Then, when you are comfortable with their decisions, let them take charge and “cc:” you on every email. Soon, you won’t even need the CC.

A plane uses almost 50% of its fuel on takeoff. There is more energy required to create the initial motion than there is to maintain motion. Next week, we will discuss what to do when you’re done this process to begin living in the balance of work and play!

Michael Bloxton

President & CEO

oneMYnd, LLC

Click here to learn the exact techniques and strategies the world’s top leaders in the human potential industry and business use to create results in their own lives.