Work life integration or work life balance, whatever you prefer to call it, it is still a key topic for executives. There are 168 hours in a week, everyone has the same amount of time every week. What you do with it is a matter of choice. People who are deliberate about their time tend to have a higher level of satisfaction and a true sense of achievement.
Managing, budgeting and prioritizing how time is spent, is still a topic high on the agenda with each client we serve. As you go about determining what mixture of professional and personal activities offers the satisfaction you deserve, here are some thoughts worthy of contemplation.
- “We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work, instead of the quality of time we put in.” —Arianna Huffington, author and businesswoman
- “Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can’t afford to lose.” —Thomas Edison, inventor
- “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” —Stephen R. Covey, author
- “So find your rhythm, understand what makes you resentful, and protect it. You can’t have everything you want, but you can have the things that really matter to you. And thinking that way empowers you to work really hard for a really long period of time.” ―Marissa Mayer, president and CEO of Yahoo
- “Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.” —Dolly Parton, singer
- “We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.” —Michelle Obama, former First Lady
- “You will never feel truly satisfied by work until you are satisfied by life.”
―Heather Schuck, The Working Mom Manifesto - “Take care of yourself: When you don’t sleep, eat crap, don’t exercise, and are living off adrenaline for too long, your performance suffers. Your decisions suffer. Your company suffers. Love those close to you: Failure of your company is not failure in life. Failure in your relationship is.” ―Ev Williams, co-founder of Medium and Twitter
- “I spend most of my time thinking about how to connect the world and serve our community better, but a lot of that time isn’t in our office or meeting with people or doing what you’d call real work. I take a lot of time just to read and think about things by myself.” ―Mark Zuckerberg
- “I believe a balanced life is essential, and I try to make sure that all of our employees know that and live that way. It’s crucial to me as a manager that I help ensure that our employees are as successful as our customers and partners. I also think that employees these days expect less of a separation of work and personal life. That doesn’t mean that work tasks should encroach upon our personal time, but it does mean that employees today expect more from the companies for whom they work. Why shouldn’t your workplace reflect your values? Why is ‘giving back’ not a part of our jobs? The answer for us is to integrate philanthropy with work.” ―Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce
