Facing Professional Services Burnout?
Too much to do! Not enough accomplished!
by Dr. R. James Steffen, SSA International
Too many interruptions!
Not enough time with the family!
I have so little control over my life!
Life doesn’t seem to have much meaning
anymore.
Sound familiar? Skipping lunch and working
late seems to be the norm for many professional service executives today.
With all the anxiety, self-doubt starts to creep in and thoughts of “I
can’t get it all done. My life is out of control” to become the mantra.
Friends and family are sometimes there to help
as they listen to our daily recital of ‘things gone wrong.’ But, they have
their own issues and problems and don’t always have the time or patience to
listen. They too have had a ‘rough day at the office’ and often feel
overwhelmed by the rush of life.
Real people with real challenges directly
relate to how you manage your time and your life. This column will help you
align your professional services life with your personal goals, using
simple, proven tools and techniques to help you:
-
Optimize and balance your business and
personal life
-
Get in touch with your own MAGNIFICENCE
-
Celebrate Life This and Each Moment
How goals change
Most professional service executives initially
set goals to optimize business accomplishments and satisfaction. But it
quickly becomes apparent that more is needed. After all, you don’t stop
being human when you arrive at the office. To optimize achievement, you need
to balance your business and personal life.
Where do you start?
We don’t control time. We can’t save it. We
can’t make it go faster or slower. We can’t give it away or buy it. Success
comes not by trying to manage time, but by managing what is under your
control.
What Do You Control?
Ask yourself: “What do I really control?”
Since the past is gone and the future is not here yet, the only thing you
really control is your actions in-the-here-and-now. Managing your
actions calls for a new approach—Aligned Thinking.
What is Aligned Thinking?
Aligned Thinking is the process whereby WHAT
YOU REALLY WANT from life and work drives every action. And
your every action takes you back to WHAT YOU REALLY WANT.
Aligned Thinking helps you get on track, stay on track and get more out of
life. Certainly, no small challenge, but very doable.
Challenge Yourself
If you want to align every action to
WHAT YOU REALLY WANT, you have three challenges only you can answer. Ask
yourself:
-
What do I REALLY WANT from life and
work?
-
How do I stay focused on WHAT I REALLY
WANT?
-
How do I get the most from the only
thing I can control— my action now?
In the issues to come, we’ll give you tips to
make it easier to answer these critical questions.
Get started with a simple three-step
process
Here is a simple two to ten minute tool to
start the process.
-
Each day, give yourself a short focus
time.
Make it a regular practice at a specific
time each day to maximize the benefit of the exercise.
-
Write your business, and personal
priorities for the day to come.
When you focus on all the things you
would like to accomplish for the day, like most people, you
probably list too much. Focus on the things closest to WHAT YOU REALLY
WANT from life and work and you will accomplish more by doing so.
-
Estimate the time you’ll need for each
activity.
A mistake many people make
is not estimating how long each activity will take. As a result, they plan
to do fourteen hours of work in an eight-hour day. This leads to
frustration and disappointment. By estimating the amount of time you will
need and making the appropriate adjustments before you begin, you will
have a much greater chance of getting it all done by day’s end.
Corporate
Aligned Thinking