Page 68 - Free Yourself From

Balancing Your Work and Life 51

other perks as they progress faster through their careers,
and they are okay with that trade-off. They are willing to
take the ebb and flow.

4. Diverse interests: They have to have multiple dimensions to
their lives and understand that this is one of the positive
trade-offs. Nancy is active with the Girl Scouts and other
community activities and ran a marathon at age 40.

5. Leadership: These women are calm and self-possessed.
They know how to inspire and delegate, yet they don’t
allow themselves to get caught on that frantic treadmill
of overwork.

And the bottom line is that these women are comfortable with
who they are and know what they want!

The Wheel of Life

Women in our Women in Leadership and Learning (WILL) program
do an activity called the Wheel of Life that helps them to create a
work-life plan. Many of the participants find this exercise fascinat-
ing because it’s the first time they’ve taken the time to think about
their life holistically and reflect on the dimensions that are most
important to them. They also get to reflect on how well they are “liv-
ing up to” the ideals they have for themselves.
Needless to say, most of the women in our training programs are
very successful business leaders, and it’s not unusual for us to hear
that a great deal of their energy and effort over the past few years has
been focused on their work. But it’s the “Wheel of Life” and not the
“Wheel of Work” (which would be much more comfortable for many
women!). These women do know, on some level, that they have other
things they still need to fit in alongside work. The wheel helps them