The balance has to be within YOU. This means being aware of your own goals and needs, and learning to identify when your balance is off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I’ve learned that you can’t have everything and do everything at the same time.” – Oprah Winfrey<\/em><\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the major culprits of imbalance is what the Harvard Business Review is calling Collaboration Overload<\/strong>. As they write in this article<\/a> on the subject, \u201cTime spent on the collaborative aspects of work \u2013 such as instant messaging, email, and meetings \u2013 has exploded by roughly 50% over the past 12 years.<\/em>\u201d “Balance is not something you find: it’s something you create.” – Jana Kingsford<\/em><\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What we rarely acknowledge is that being continually out of balance can lead to burnout. Burnout is so challenging to see coming, largely because everyone reacts differently to their own imbalance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I found this podcast on the 7 Early Signs of Burnout and 10 Simple & Practical Tools To Help<\/a> to be so informative and helpful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Chatterjee\u2019s 7 Signs of Burnout are: Naturally, some of those signs can be symptoms of other things, but nevertheless are helpful in recognizing the potential path you might be on, away from balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The suggested 10 steps to improve: The whole podcast is well worth a listen!! If you are in need of some ideas of how to get and improve your balance, this is such an informative episode!<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Health is built on balance. Balance is built on health. We need to tend carefully and sometimes vigilantly to our mental health.” – Michelle Obama<\/em><\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I really enjoyed Michelle Obama’s new book, The Light We Carry<\/a>. She is intelligent, articulate, poised, gracious and down-to-earth. Her book had a lot of themes, but central to the book was the theme that we need balance. In our relationships, in our work, in our time, in our health. It was an easy but inspiring read!<\/p>\n\n\n\n And while we’re on the topic of mental & physical health, I think we devote far too little time to sleep<\/a>. Did you know that being awake for 20 hours <\/a>has the same cognitive impairment as being legally drunk?! We really underestimate how much balance we need in our awake and asleep time!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Which is why I have not only been reading before bed lately, but also listening to this yoga nidra<\/a> meditation, which has really helped me fall and stay asleep. It’s a wonderful way to wind down at the end of the day and restore the balance in my brain and body. Maybe you want to try it, too! <\/p>\n\n\n\n “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule,<\/em> but to schedule your priorities.” – Stephen Covey<\/em><\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you ever wondered why some of your best ideas come to you while in the shower? On a run? Taking a walk on the beach? It\u2019s because when we allow our minds to wander \u2013 to not be responsible for a specific task \u2013 they are better able to get creative! Allowing our minds to have balance between expected norms and time off gives the mind balance and allows it to react to different stimuli. WHAT I’M READING…<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nothing beats organizing while listening to a great audiobook. Seriously, this is my idea of a good time! \ud83d\ude09 I have a subscription to Audible and recently discovered a British police crime series that is included in the subscription. Now I am a huge fan of British police dramas on TV. And British crime novels are just as good. Joy Ellis\u2019 Jackman & Evans series<\/a> is based in the Fens in and around Lincolnshire, and centers on the cases of Detective Inspector Rowan Jackman and Detective Sergeant Marie Evans. Despite the fact that the stories are a bit gruesome for my taste, the characters are so fascinating and the stories so interesting, that I was hooked from book 1 (The Murderer\u2019s Son<\/a>). And the narrator is amazing. You all know how much I love a fabulous narrator!! The story becomes almost secondary to the quality of the narration. One of the best parts of a British novel for me is how many different accents there are. Listening to British novels is almost more fun than reading them because all the different accents are represented and Richard Armitage is a superb narrator. He deserves a spot in the ranks of Stephen Fry and Robert Glennister, which is the highest praise I can give! I\u2019m now listening to book 8 \u2013 The Night Thief<\/a> \u2013 and am completely hooked as I\u2019m sure you can tell!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That doesn\u2019t sound so bad, does it? I mean, isn\u2019t collaboration what we all want? Isn\u2019t this a good thing?? Unfortunately not entirely. While collaboration and team work can, and often do, result in synergies and efficiencies, the amount of work created around collaborating can derail balance.
\u201cManagers don\u2019t typically intentionally overspend financial budgets, but they are <\/em>overspending their people by asking them to collaborate so broadly and frequently on all forms of work without understanding the true costs.
Our study design was grounded in our prior research showing that priority overload has become one of the biggest derailers of team success. In the organizations that we\u2019ve studied, we\u2019ve found that 49% of employees are experiencing priority overload. Employees are drowning in excessive or misaligned goals set by too many external stakeholders with competing needs and demands.\u201d
Does this sound familiar? As the saying goes, \u2018too many cooks spoil the broth\u2019 and that is what seems to be happening when the balance of collaboration, deep work, and team vs individual needs is out of alignment. Hopefully, becoming aware of Collaboration Overload \u2013 and having a name for it \u2013 will be the first step in being able to create better balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ud83d\udc49 Disconnection – Loneliness has the same negative effect on your body as smoking 15 cigarettes per day!<\/em>
\ud83d\udc49 Emotional exhaustion – this can show up as <\/em>c<\/em>ynicism or little outbursts of anger<\/em>
\ud83d\udc49 Lack of creativity
\ud83d\udc49 An inability to feel pleasure in everyday things
\ud83d\udc49 Procrastination – this can also show up as an inability to make decisions<\/em>
\ud83d\udc49 Self-care disappears
\ud83d\udc49 Physical exhaustion <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1\ufe0f\u20e3 Awareness \u2013 this is really the key to moving towards improvement: being aware of how you are actually doing<\/em>
2\ufe0f\u20e3 Intentionally engage with another human being \u2013 which <\/em>correlates to #1 above<\/em>
3\ufe0f\u20e3 Prioritize sleep
4\ufe0f\u20e3 Do something you love every day
5\ufe0f\u20e3 Get better at saying no
6\ufe0f\u20e3 Schedule rest – all the commitments we have for other people are in our calendar. But often we make no diary commitments to ourselves<\/em>
7\ufe0f\u20e3 Movement
8\ufe0f\u20e3 Pay attention to your food intake
9\ufe0f\u20e3 Define the end of your work day – “what does ‘done’ look like today?”<\/em>
\ud83d\udd1f Define your values. Are you living in alignment with them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jnhcoaching.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/SIGNS-OF-BURNOUT-891x1024.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
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Time to seek out the creativity that comes with balance? There are some interesting tips in this Washington Post article<\/a>!
I tried it myself and ended up finding this amazing account on Instagram<\/a> that shows you how to fold your clothes efficiently. I can\u2019t even begin to tell you how much fun this was for me! \ud83d\ude09 And I had some great ideas during!! The shower effect in action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jnhcoaching.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/audibles-1024x819.png\")
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