It may seem like a pretty straightforward topic, but it’s something that we all seem to struggle with in one form or another: Work-life balance. Spending more time with our kids, regularly going to the gym, having “me time.” These are all things that we are aware we need. Sometimes we make time for them, other times we do not.

At our last TEC event, speaker Carlos Fox spoke to this point exactly, and though it may only be one man’s opinion, it is the opinion of a man who has spent 7,000+ hours coaching CEO’s. Carlos says, “Those who are the best CEOs of their life also happen to be the best CEOs of their business. You not only have to be good at running your company, but you have to be great at running ‘ME Inc.’ and you have to be intentional about it too.”  

So how do we get better at this practice? Treating our personal lives with the same level of importance as our careers? Our companies?

Carlos broke it into a few easy steps:

1.       Seek Self awareness

Are you really as good as you think you are? This is the good, the bad, and the ugly. What are your strengths? What do you need to improve on? Be honest with yourself! How do you show up as a leader: do you know your leadership style, your strengths, and your weaknesses?’ It is important to be aware of yourself, your personal brand, to key into your values and the things that you really find important. To understand how you handle stress and the things you need in order to combat it most effectively. You must know your blind spots and how to actively minimize their impacts.

2.       Adopt the ability to navigate

Carlos suggests taking a look each month at where you are going, how you are getting there, and if that is realistic or not. There is never enough time, money, or resources in the world – this is where we must become the chief priority officer of our lives. Do you need to spend more time with your family, your kids, on your health, re-connecting with your pillow and sleeping at night? Carlos suggests taking each area of your life and evaluating it using a scale of red, yellow, and green. This gives you an actual idea of what you are doing well, and where you may or may not be lacking. And it really goes back to point #1 – self-awareness.

3.       Be Intentional

Work towards these life goals as you would with the goals of your own company. Execute them, evaluate them. Learn and grow from them.

If we do these three things, and we do them well, we can see several things happen. We will have more time, more energy, less stress, and actually be able to create a balance in our lives – tuning in to that inner ‘Zen’ all these people are talking about. So why not give it a shot? What do you need to do to become CEO of your life?

 

-KCC