Balanced Lifestyle – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

Balance is the Key Your Looking For

March 18, 2020/1 Comment/in Balanced Lifestyle, Books, Career, Leadership /by Ryan Shaw

Achieving balance with your work is a difficult task. There are busy periods and slow periods. Many times we seek to make the busy ones less busy and the slow ones busier by adding work. If that approach isn’t working for you, perhaps it’s time to embrace the highs and lows.

Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, thoughtLEADERS’ Managing Director.

Sometimes life is frenetic. Sometimes it’s slow. We all want to achieve “balance” in our lives but it’s difficult to do so through all those ups and downs.

We falsely believe “balance” is a Goldilocks thing – not too busy, not too bored, but juuuust right. We try to manage the busy periods to make them less busy. We make the slow periods busier. We do all this in a futile effort to get our lives into that range of “just right” but it never seems to play out. Why?

It doesn’t play out because we mistakenly believe we have control over our lives. Control is an illusion. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you’ll be able to achieve a sane sense of balance. But it’s not balance as you might be thinking about it. It won’t be in that “comfortable range” every day. To achieve the balance I’m talking about, you have to look at balance differently and therefore approach it differently.

First, the busy periods will always be busy.

Second, the slow periods will always be slow.

Third, control is an illusion and you can only do so much to manage those busy and slow periods.

How rigorous are the change management practices in your organization?

January 16, 2020/0 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: How rigorous are the change management practices in your organization?

Somewhat. We manage change for big changes but less for everyday stuff. 37.1%
Not very. We don’t actively think about how to manage change. 23.3%
Not at all. Change just happens and we react. 21.8%
Very. We actively and effectively manage change. 17.8%

Change just happens. 45% of you say you don’t manage change actively or are purely in reactive mode. People dislike change and times of change are times of risk for your business. People get distracted. Morale drops. Productivity flags. These events need to be managed actively. While huge change projects usually get the resources for change management, it’s the cumulative effect of all the small changes that saps the will of your organization. Your change management efforts don’t need to be huge. It’s mostly about communicating clearly and directly. Invest some extra time in your change efforts for the next few months and see what the impact is. Hopefully it’ll be a more focused organization that moves through change more quickly so they can get back to business sooner.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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How many professional reading books do you read in a year?

December 5, 2019/2 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: How many professional reading books do you read in a year?

None. I read other forms of content (blogs, magazines, journals): 39%
A few: 1-4: 33%
Several: 5-9: 13%
Many: 15 or more: 5%
A lot: 10-14: 5%
I don’t really do any professional reading: 4%

Short form doesn’t beat bookworms. Clearly a large portion (39%) of you eschew books in favor of short-form content. That’s a sign of the times for busy professionals. That said, a healthy portion (56%) of you are still hunkering down with a good business book on a regular basis. For those who aren’t reading books, I encourage you to pick up the habit. Short-form content is great but isn’t lasting. Books are more comprehensive in their thinking and can more fundamentally alter the way you look at the world because they give you a broader context and deeper insights into issues than a 600-word blog post can. Books are also a great way to decompress and get away from stressful screen time, bouncing from one site to another. The best way to get started on this habit is to ask your friends and co-workers for recommendations. They’ll know you well enough to recommend things you’ll enjoy.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

When is the last time you took a vacation?

November 21, 2019/0 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: When is the last time you took a vacation?

Last week: 14%
Last month: 30%
Last quarter: 18%
6 months ago: 14%
Vacation? What’s that?: 24%

Time to take a break. The 24% of you who can’t recall your last vacation are at risk for a lot of issues. Burnout, job dissatisfaction, family stress, and physical issues can all result from working too long without a break. The excuse of “I don’t have time because I have too much to do” doesn’t hold water. You have to make the time. A vacation doesn’t have to be long or expensive either. Just staying home for a few days and reconnecting with family, resting and taking some weight off your mind can work wonders. Travel can be stressful and expensive, so if you are taking a vacation requiring a trip, be sure you’re not inadvertently adding more stress to your life. For those who are demonstrating good vacation habits, bravo. Make sure your team members and colleagues do the same. Encourage them to take time off and offer to pick up the slack while they’re gone. It’s a generous offer and will benefit you and the team in the long run if everyone is rested and feels well taken care of.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

How comfortable are you asking others for help when you’re struggling with work tasks?

October 31, 2019/0 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: How comfortable are you asking others for help when you’re struggling with work tasks?

Very. I ask for help anytime I need it: 27%
Mostly. I’ll ask for help when I’m really stuck: 41%
Somewhat. I’ll only ask for help in tough situations: 19%
Not very. I have a hard time asking for help: 8%
Not at all. I rarely ask others for help: 3%

Don’t wait until it’s too late. It’s great to see a large portion of you (68%) willing to ask for help when needed. For those who have trouble requesting assistance, remember it’s easier to fix a small problem sooner than a big problem later. Things can get out of control fast. You have colleagues for a reason. Taking on too much can also affect your stress levels, performance and even your health. You don’t have to ask for help all the time and there is a balance of not being overly reliant on others. That said, doing everything by yourself is stressful, risky and lonely. As long as you’re being reasonable with your requests in terms of size and frequency, you’ll find the vast majority of coworkers or friends are more than willing to pitch in when asked.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

What expectations do you have of your team members when it comes to email responsiveness?

September 26, 2019/1 Comment/in Balanced Lifestyle, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: What expectations do you have of your team members when it comes to email responsiveness?

I expect a response only during working hours: 51%
I expect a response to all emails within a few hours of it being sent: 6%
I expect responses on urgent items immediately and others during normal hours: 43%

Reasonable expectations? While many respondents only expect a response during working hours, 43% expected responses to “urgent” items immediately even outside working hours. The real question here is what constitutes “urgent” because we all have different definitions. I challenge you to assess your view of urgent. Does that proposal really have to go out that night? Is the client really going to read it over dinner? Or can it wait until morning? Do you really need that report with the latest production numbers at 10 p.m.? Are you going to act on them that night or is it just curiosity that has you asking. “Urgency” is a slippery slope that leads us to be emailing at all hours of the day and night. Challenge the definition of urgent if you want some of that madness to stop. And if you expect an email at all hours regardless of work hours or not, I hate to break it to you but your team probably hates you.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!