We all can get caught up in the whirlwind of life at times until suddenly we come to a screeching halt and sigh, “There’s got to be more to life than this rat race I’ve been on the last few months (years)!”
The beauty when this happens is it provides us the opportunity to evaluate what we are doing and whom we are spending our time with.
Over the next couple of days take inventory, write down what you are doing every 15 minutes from the time you get out of bed until you shut your eyes for a long night of sleep again.
Once you have it, consciously read it over paying attention to how you feel as you read each entry.
Now, what would you like to have more or less of in your life? Hint: to transform the quality of your life pick more of the things that bring a smile to your face, a warm sensation in your heart and less of the I want to puke, poke a darning needle in my eyes or pull my hair out items!
As many of you know, I am part of the Forbes® Coaches Council and from time to time my comments are selected for publication on Forbes.com. This happens to be one of those weeks! They posed the question, “What is one thing a company can do to improve their employees’ quality of life?”
My response was, “Evaluate Whether Employees Are Overworked, being willing to truthfully evaluate if a person is being asked to perform more than what is possible for one employee. If the evaluation determines yes, the company can create an action plan to change the expectation in order to allow this person to be successful in their role. Being successful generates positive energy, which will enhance their quality of life at home and at work.” – Kris McCrea Scrutchfield
Back to your list, are you trying to do more than one person can actually do? I get it; we keep taking things on cause that’s what we do! We’re doers! A teacher needs a parent to go on a field trip and our hand shoots out of our pocket like a rocket to say yes.
You have creative bursts where you start new projects at work, at home, on the board you sit on. All systems are green and all cylinders are firing, until today! You reached the tipping point and it’s time to pause, reflect, ditch the things that don’t bring joy to you and find a way to continue feeding the things that jazz you.
If you are doing more than one person can possibly do in a normal working day at your job, it’s time to have a conversation with the person you report to. Don’t ignore it and hope for the best, you are the only person who can take responsibility and create a change.
Seriously, what items on your list could another member of your team do? What items don’t really need to be done at all? Yes, those items do exist and absorb energy that could be used on something better. What could you reprioritize to free up time?
Reaching this point does not mean you are a failure or slow or anything! It simply means it’s time to evaluate the situation and make some adjustments.
I recently did this exercise with one of my clients. She realized she was spending about 5 hours a week working on a board that she was totally not passionate about. She made a decision to resign her post to focus on things more in alignment with who she is and what her message is. Guess what, she’s much happier and she has been able to refocus at her job bringing a newfound energy, making her more productive and she feels amazing about the change.
What will it be? Are you willing to transform your quality of life by getting real with all that you are busy doing? I would love to hear how this goes for you. Let me know!
If you would like to talk more about the transformation process, click here to set up a discovery call with me today. If you would like to read the other 10 things a company can do to help improve the quality of life for their employees, here’s the link to the full article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2016/11/18/11-things-companies-should-be-doing-to-improve-their-employees-quality-of-life/?inf_contact_key=d62b4b0dc4f994e9b1107715314c1eb0b38aa588336ea805dfcacbb585eb8364#572c6947d97e
Happy reading! Let me know what thoughts or questions you have.