How can you maintain a healthy work-life balance as a leader?

Harmonize Life Fully! ???? I'd craft work-life balance as a leader by mindfully applying "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey. Prioritize relentlessly, set boundaries and expectations clearly, and manage time with intention. Self-care is non-negotiable; it fuels sustained leadership. Embrace continuous learning and growth, and find joy and celebration in small and significant achievements. Cultivating this equilibrium enhances personal well-being and amplifies my capacity to inspire and lead effectively.

Exploring leadership and grappling with the work-life balance challenge urges us to reassess our strategies. Does the constant pursuit leave us feeling unnecessarily pressured? Perhaps we should explore blending work and life more seamlessly. Our professional and personal aspects frequently overlap, and finding true fulfillment might come from going with the flow rather than constantly aiming for a perfect balance.

The first step to finding balance is identifying your goals, values, and passions in both work and life. Determine non-negotiables, measure success and happiness, align actions with purpose, and avoid investing time in less meaningful pursuits.

Going above and beyond can happen to all of us in a lifetime, from C-level to any level below. And you know what YOUR healthy version of work-life balance looks like. Yet, maybe you are the only breadwinner, or you're afraid of losing your skills, so you stay where you finish too late, or your parents worked very hard and told you it's the only way to succeed or keep a job. So, here's the key tip: If you think you're off balance, getting snappier at home and then at work, sleeping less, or your good friends are concerned, THEN you need to work on YOUR situation, your narrative in 2 steps (not one!): Step 1??: slowly re-create a healthier foundation in your life. Step 2??: challenge yourself more while creating healthy boundaries.

Establishing a healthy work-life balance starts with defining your priorities. What truly matters in your work and life? Identify goals, values, and passions. Pinpoint non-negotiables for your. How do you measure success and happiness? Clear priorities align your actions with purpose, sidestepping time-wasting activities. It's about investing your energy where it truly counts.

Don't be afraid to set boundaries! Communicate priorities and boundaries clearly to your team, stakeholders, and family. Define availability and limits. Be consistent, respectful, and request the same. Setting expectations manages workload, prevents conflicts, and empowers others to contribute.

As a leader you will constantly be putting pressure on yourself to take as little time off as possible. The reality is if you do not take a break, the quality of your work will be negatively impacted. Force yourself to take a minimum amount of time off a year and communicate this with the team at the start of the year

Learning to say “no” or “not right now” is a must for any leader who wants to be effective & avoid burnout. As a leader, you are often presented with multiple opportunities/ demands on your time. But, saying yes to everything can spread you thin & compromise your ability to excel at the few things that truly align with your values & mission. By identifying your values & personal mission, you can prioritize your commitments & make informed decisions about where to invest your time & energy. Saying no allows you to focus on what truly matters, maintain a healthy work-life balance/ integration, & ensure that you are able to excel in areas that are aligned with your overall purpose. This has been a game changer for me as a working mom!

A leader has to model setting boundaries and expectations for themselves and for others. Walk the talk. - Set quiet hours on your phone. - Don't email after hours - schedule them to go out during work hours if you tend to work different hours than your team - Don't check in when you are on PTO so that your team can do the same. Empower them to make decisions without you. - Exceptions should be truly exceptions where you are available outside of work hours - as a last resort. - Share how you set boundaries with your team so they are encouraged to do the same.

The next crucial step is communicating your priorities and boundaries to your team, stakeholders, and family. Clearly convey what you can and cannot do, establish availability parameters, and seek mutual respect. Setting and communicating boundaries fosters effective workload management, conflict prevention, stress reduction, and facilitates delegation, shared responsibilities, and team empowerment.

Crucial for balance: Plan and organize your time wisely. Choose tools that suit your style—calendars, lists, apps. Break projects into tasks, prioritize by urgency. Schedule realistically with buffers. Regularly review and adjust. Stay focused, productive, but most importantly: stay flexible.

An essential element in achieving balance is effective time planning and organization. Choose tools that align with your preferences, break projects into manageable tasks, prioritize based on urgency and importance, and schedule realistically with buffers. Regularly review progress and adjust plans. This approach enhances focus, productivity, and flexibility while minimizing procrastination, overwhelm, and missed deadlines.

Everyone plans .. what we need to get better at is plan for the unknowns/ contingencies. There are so many theories on how to manage time/ calendar. Pick one that suits you the best. Incorporate it and then add your customized flavor to manage your unique responsibilities.

Leadership starts with self-care: Get enough sleep, eat well, exercise, and recharge. Manage emotions, cope with stress, seek help when needed. Prioritize health for sustained energy, resilience, and peak performance. Model these habits for your team.

Ensure sufficient sleep, maintain a healthy diet, exercise regularly, and prioritize relaxation. Manage emotions, cope with stress, and seek support when necessary. Self-care enhances health, energy, resilience, performance, creativity, and mood. It also sets a positive example for your team and others, promoting a healthy work culture.

Work and exciting projects are awesome; these will consume you and your health will suffer. Prioritize your health; for you, for your family, for your kids. No project, pat on the back, Good Job email is worth that cost. During some of my recent projects, I worked extremely long hours and weekends; as a result I saw a new me .. the biggest and heaviet in my lifetime. YUCK! I did not like my reflection in the mirror; but the emails of Kudos kept pouring in. The project complexities drove my rush. Then there came a pivot time where I was huffing on a call and had to make drastic changes. Today, I am in one of my healthiest fit and a certified Personal Trainer helping others feel energized and get fit while executing those complex projects.

Self-care is the most important thing you can do to live a long life. Attempt to grow your mind, body, and heart. For your mind, you should continue to read, learn, and take classes you find interesting. For your body, do all you can to avoid a sedentary lifestyle. That means get off your backside. If all you can do is walk to the end of the block, Great! Keep doing it! Sooner or later, you will walk two blocks and then more; keep going! For heart, have something outside of work to care about. Whether it is family, friends, or some group that allows you to care about them, let your heart grow past yourself. It will make you a better person and lower your stress level. Your life and self-care are about continuous growth.

In program management, seize the constant opportunity to learn and grow. Boost your skills through courses, books, events, and communities. Seek feedback and mentorship for support. Continuous learning keeps you agile, confident, and satisfied. That's the best way to unlock new possibilities.

Being a program manager offers the continuous chance for professional and personal development. Enhance skills through courses, books, events, and communities. Seek feedback, mentorship, and coaching for support. Constant learning enables you to adapt to work demands, boosts confidence and satisfaction, and broadens your potential and opportunities.

There are so many resources .. LinkedIn Learning is one of them. I signed up for the premium services to avail of the learnings. Also, PMI webinars are amazing. Keep learning.

Find joy and meaning, appreciate your impact, and celebrate achievements. Acknowledge and reward yourself and your team. Enjoy hobbies, spend time with loved ones, express gratitude, and cultivate a growth mindset. This enjoyment and celebration contribute to sustained motivation, passion, and a positive, supportive culture.

Personally, I stay discipline in the following areas to make sure I cater enough time for myself : Prioritize tasks, set the boundaries whenever appropriate, delegate my work effectively to my teams, and schedule regular breaks for myself. I also believe in fostering open communication with my team, encourage a supportive work culture, and make time for personal activities. One of the other thing which is very important is start a hobby which you are passionate about and be willing to invest time in.

The six best doctors in the world are #sunlight, #rest, #exercise, #diet, #selfconfidence and #friends. I love this. #betterlife

Diet, exercise and sleep play a critical role to maintain one's energy and mental sharpness. These are essentials for employee/ leaders at every layers in order to maintain a work/life they would like to achieve in the long run.

Priorities change over time as you get later in your career family, religious beilefs, community involvement etc tends to be of greater importance for most and there will need to be periodic reflection and re-alignment with your "why."?Additionally, to maintain a healthy work-life balance as a leader, one must prioritize based on overarching goals. Learn to delegate effectively, entrusting tasks that align with team members' strengths and responsibilities, in tandem this will allow you to focus more on strategic leadership and initiatives.

I’ll also add a plug here for career coaching. Career coaching is so valuable for anyone in a leadership role and it’s worth the investment. A career coach can help a leader who may struggle in this area by providing guidance and by asking the right questions that get to the root of the issue etc. Highly recommend it for any leader wanting to achieve a more fulfilling and balanced professional and personal life.