
Doesn’t matter if you are running a business on our own, managing a team or just trying to get ahead, we are taught that the most important thing is how hard you work and how many hours you put in and that relentless work ethic will eventually pay off.
How many times have you stayed a little later to get that one last job finished? How many times have you stayed at your desk or answered another email before you put your coat on and go home? How many times has your body told you that it is tired or ill and you have ignored it and kept going anyway?
If the answers to the above questions are ‘multiple times’ or ‘all the time’ then you are well on your way to going pop, to burn out. I have found over the years with clients that your body tells you exactly what it wants, it will let you get away with ignoring it for a while but eventually if you do ignore it, then your body gets louder and louder and louder and it generally doesn’t end well.
We are our very own worst enemy as we sit there and tell ourselves a pack of lies which means that we can’t possibly do less, we can’t stop working and we can’t ask for help. We certainly can’t let go of the control that made us so successful in the first place. We tell ourselves if you keep your head down and work harder it will be okay.
Does this sound familiar, even a little? If not, then wow – good work and have fun. If however, you have been honest with yourself and see parts of yourself then it maybe time to change, and this is the difficult part – how do you change something that has got you so far?
I am not going to give you a load of old rubbish about giving it all up and living on a commune – that just isn’t practical as you have bills to pay and people you are responsible for. However, what would a real work-life balance look like for you? No seriously, spend a couple of minutes and see what you would do and how it would make you and your family feel.
More time with the kids and the family? More time for yourself? What about a hobby or more holidays? How about putting your kids to bed and having the time and energy to read them a story? Seems unattainable? Well, I don’t think it is – seriously.
I can’t give you a quick and easy solution but if you are serious about change then we should talk. The process works by looking at why you behave the way you do, what motivates you and then we look at the change you want and together we get there. 95% of all we do is instinctive – in other words we don’t think, we just do and that includes our behaviour so maybe it is time to look at why.
I am a fully qualified counsellor, but unlike many others I have also had over 20 years running a small business, been 12 years in education and run countless teams and know the pressures of managing and leading. You won’t waste time and we can focus on the change you want. If this is of interest than drop me a line and we can have a chat.
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