Datasheet

Chapter 1: Planning for Better Balance between Your Work and Personal Life

just what this balance would look like in your own life. Here are just some

of the benefits you might see yourself accruing from creating this balance

(please feel free to add your own ideas to this starter list):

 Normal workdays with no more late nights at the office or bringing work

home

 Weekends off with nary a thought of work

 More free time to spend with family and friends

 More energy to devote to personal growth and aspirations

 Newfound sense of professional accomplishment

 Rededication to your job and new sense of commitment to your career

 Greater capacity to deal with the stresses you encounter both at work

and at home

 Heightened level of creativity both at work and at home

 Whole new sets of professional and personal goals

As some of the items in this list clearly demonstrate, some of these expected

benefits are assumed to impact both your personal and professional lives.

This makes sense because no matter where you’re at or what you’re doing,

you’re really living just one life. As a result, you can anticipate that an

increase in your dedication and creativity at work is going to spill over into

similar aspects of your personal life.

Before embarking on any of the productivity suggestions I make in later

chapters of this book, be sure to take the time to make your own list that

catalogs all the benefits you’re hoping to see when you bring your work

and life into better balance. Your list acts not only as a powerful motivation

tool but can also help you better define just what work/life balance means

in your situation. You can also use it as a checklist to help you evaluate the

progress you’re making in terms of achieving this very important equilibrium

in your own professional and personal life.

Exploring Common Excuses for

Remaining Unproductive

Although you may find the idea of feeling fully competent in your job as well

as having a real life outside of it to boot very enticing (talk about having your

cake and eating it, too), you probably still harbor some doubts about how

realistic this is in your particular work situation.