One of Oprah Winfrey’s famous lines was when she said “I’ve learned that you can’t have everything and do everything at the same time.” Leadership is really challenging work as it requires putting significant time, energy, and effort into people. The human side of leadership often takes an emotional toll which is why it’s critical to create balance as a leader. Those who succeed over the long-term find ways to balance critical leadership work and personal happiness. Here are five ways to create balance as a leader:
- Find Purpose: One important way to build balance is to clearly understand the deeper purpose. Leading others serves a larger purpose, and it’s critical to understand the why behind it. Leading with purpose provides direction, so leaders avoid moving too far in one direction or another. What is your purpose for leading others?
- Build Relationships: Great leaders build relationships with the people they lead, but they also create positive relationships with a small group of trusted people. The community of people in their circle offer a way to set work and leadership aside and enjoy each other’s company. While these people may provide quality feedback and support, their most important role is to help find balance outside of work stressors. How well have you built positive relationships outside of work?
- Say No More Often: One of the most important ways to create balance is to say no to anything that doesn’t align with a larger purpose or deeper values. We could spend our days running from one obligation to the next, or we could create purpose for everything and say no to anything that doesn’t align with that. The ability to say no helps support balance as a leader. How do you decide to say yes or no to certain obligations?
- Do Less Things: Highly-effective leaders understand the importance of narrowing the focus and creating intention around a few key areas. To create better balance in life, start doing less. Decide what activities or obligations align with your larger purpose and only do those activities. Decluttering and doing less create better balance in life. How intentionally do you focus on only what matters most?
- Create Experiences: Developing clear balance in life means doing activities and creating experiences that align with your core values. For some people, it’s enjoying the outdoors or traveling and for others it might be reading and writing. Decide what experiences align with your larger purpose and core values, so no to other obligations, and create intention around those experiences. How intentionally do you create positive experiences?
Highly-effective leaders understand the challenges of creating balance, but they know the importance of it for long-term success. Great leaders understand their purpose and find clear ways to align their lives outside of work around that purpose. They say no more often, do less, and create experiences that align with their core values in order to mitigate the stresses of leadership.
How do you create personal balance as a leader?