It’s Personal: You Define What Success and Work-Life Balance Mean for You

It’s Personal: You Define What Success and Work-Life Balance Mean for You

Author: Caitlin McGaw

Summarized by Ali Kingston Mwila

Take a minute to reflect on how your life and work are integrated right now. Are you satisfied with the harmonization of the various aspects of your life? What is working? What could be better? At the end of the article, take a minute and ask yourself these questions again.

The idea that work hours were oppressive and workers needed an equitable amount of time for work, recreation and sleep—eight hours for each—was championed by a Welsh manufacturer, Robert Owens, in the 1860s.

A crazy era

Work in the 80s was crazy. The three preceding post-war decades, the 50s through the 70s, were “go-go-go” at work. Company loyalty and a do-whatever-it-takes attitude were championed in return for company paternalism, near-lifetime employment for many, and company pensions.

The 80s, 90s and early 2000s took that to a whole new level. Silicon Valley had Apple, Oracle, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and myriad other former start-ups coming into their own.

Work-life balance fell to the wayside, a near unattainable dream. Employees gave up balance. The scale was fully weighted on the side of work.

Pushing back

Millennials had certainly had enough, having lived with Boomer parents who were in the thick of the work-life imbalance for much of their growing up. As workers, millennials pushed the needle on work-life balance and the need for a life.

Time for some important takeaways:

1. Success is what you define it to be. It depends on your priorities – at a given time. It depends on your goals and needs at that time, and how you feel about all these things.
2. External definitions of success and of what work-life balance should look like are irrelevant.
3. You are the CEO of your career. You are the one casting the vision and executing on a plan toward your goals.
4. When you get really clear on your vision, your goals and your plan, you can determine what the balance in YOUR life needs to look like.

So, how are folks in our digital trust community thinking about this and what are they doing to find a balance?

• Be your own coach
• What fires you up?
• What give you joy?
• What is causing stress or dissatisfaction?
• What does success in your life look like – now, and later?
• What are you prioritizing?
• What things can give a little now so you can achieve your most important current goal?
• Where are you stuck with moving forward?

Breaking it down:

1. Identify your most important goals – personal and career
2. Make a plan to take one step toward your goal each day. Keep track of your progress daily!
3. Find a “Goals Buddy” with whom you can share your goal and your journey – and you’ll share theirs. This is a way of holding yourself accountable, similar to the way a coach holds you accountable.

Reflect each day:

1. Did I get done what I absolutely needed to get done?
2. If not, why not?
3. How do I adjust what needs to get done tomorrow?
4. What steps am I going to take?
5. What resources do I need?
6. What help do I need? Who can I ask for help?

Reflection, knowing our own priorities, goal setting, making a plan, and holding ourselves accountable for execution: these are powerful steps you can take to regain agency and control over your life and how your time is spent, at work and at home.

A critical realization is that goals and priorities change.

You are the CEO of your life and your career. You call the shots. Find your balance by finding your true vision of success and executing on YOUR plan.

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