Balance, Is it possible?

For years I have waded through hundreds of emails a day, tyring to keep my finger on the pulse of the company. Managing all of computer support for a large call center company meant that I needed to be aware of what was going throughout the company. You never new when the CTO or even CEO was going to call asking "What is going on ?". My inbox typically had over 5,000 messages with at least 40 or 50 needing to be read.

As a result of this type of management, everything got a quick scan, I made quick judgements as to what needed further review and followup. Always with good intentions things got put on the back burner, important things, while I sifted through the pile. I worked on the urgent not the important.

I preached to my staff not to work this way, that we needed to stay focused, work on the core issues, but I was the biggest offender. Eventually I grew to hate my job, not because of what I did, but because of how I had to do it. Email was just symptom of how I was working. For me this is really about priorities, if I don't know what is important, I fall back to the busy work, the emails, the easy stuff.

For me, I needed to examine how I determine what is important, in every part of my life. Putting this down on paper was really important for me. I needed to write down what my career goals were, what was on my bucket list, what personal growth did I want to achieve. In a large sense I discovered I didn't know as much about myself as I thought. Saying you want something and being willing to do what it takes to make it happen are two different things. I decided to make some lists of stuff that I really wanted and I found that what really got in my way wasn't money, or time, it was me. For me getting what I wanted out of life is about priorities. Find out what is really important in your life, focus your energies there, and get rid of everything else.

Get rid of everything else isn't easy, but it can be if we do a little bit each day. Stop doing those useless tasks, throw out that useless stuff. Replace busy time with productive time. As I have gotten rid of the junk in my life, I have come to find a balance between work and family. Take the time to know what you want.