Did you know that January is Life Balance Month?  It is!  And we have created a questionnaire (at www.sheryl.com)  that you can take to see if you need help.  Why?

It’s THE hot topic on television, radio and in newspapers.  How can you stay committed to work and yet dedicated to your family?  Men and women face this question everyday as they run to chase airplanes, hit the horn in stopped traffic, and quietly stare at their sleeping loved ones.

People are your organization’s greatest assets and they are begging for help in balancing their lives.  When surveying 550 employees from different industries and different positions, the question was asked “Which would you prefer, an extra day of work at time and a half pay; or a day off with no pay”? Ninety two percent replied they’d rather have the day off!  Today TIME is more valuable than money!

The American worker is working 30 days more a year than they were just 3 years ago.  With downsizing, right-sizing, mergers and technology, we are asked to do more and more and the line dividing work and life is quickly thinning.  Is life balance even possible? 

As a working single parent, grandmother, business owner, and part-time caregiver to an invalid mother suffering with M.S., I can tell you, YES, it is possible.

We’ll start with just three tips offering one in each section that you can actually start today!

Tip One.  Change your mindset, change your mouth! Have you noticed how we talk about time? We say stupid things like “I’m going to start an exercise program as soon as I can find some spare time.”  “I want to reconnect with my friends as soon as I get some free time”. “I’m going to write a book when time allows.”

So again Tip One.  Change your mindset, change your mouth!  The first thing is to recognize that Time=Money.  It’s precious and valuable.  It’s an asset. I have several “touchstones” in my office that remind me visually of what I know in my heart, but with the rush of the day-to-day business, I forget.

One says “INVEST don’t spend your time”.

If we looked at our time as if it were money, I guarantee that we’d make better choices as far as where and on whom we spent it.  Once you see your time as money you’ll delete words like “free and spare” and understand we all were created equal in our time allotments.  We all have the same 24-7.  So if David gets more done in his day than Diane, it’s not that he’s been given an unnatural advantage, but rather he chooses to manage his time more effectively.

This has been a big help on the home front also with bed making. Now when my son says he doesn’t have time to make his bed, he quickly realizes he chose not to delegate time to make his bed.  That realization came when we brought  an eggtimer in to see that it takes less than the time to boil a soft boiled egg than to have a bed that is welcoming at the end of the day. Now that task is added to his list and completed, first thing in the morning.  I will give you tip two next time.  CSP Sheryl Nicholson 727  7294937