Page 74 - Free Yourself From

Balancing Your Work and Life 57

• Achievement: having accomplishments you are proud of
• Significance: having a positive impact on people who matter
to you
• Legacy: passing along your values or ways of doing things
in ways that help others find future success

If the authors are correct and these four categories are what we
are trying to achieve to feel successful in our lives, then we can use
them as a measuring stick as we make choices about what we want
to accomplish, both short and long term in these various roles of
ours. What do you want to accomplish in your personal, profes-
sional, and community life and how will those goals get you closer
to bringing these four elements to each of those spheres?
Whether you follow this concept as a guide or set goals for your-
self in a different set of categories (such as the Wheel of Life), I think
the key is to prioritize and focus on no more than four or five goals
that matter the most to you and use them to determine how you
spend your discretionary time and how you measure your success at
the end of each day.
Another important consideration—to bring reality back into the
picture—is that you will, from time to time, find yourself in specific
situations that usurp your time and attention and temporarily take
you away from this more holistic approach to your life. Those situ-
ations might include having small children, caring for an aging or ill
parent, starting a new job, moving, divorce, or supporting your part-
ner through an important event in his or her life. But that’s okay. It’s
all right to take detours once in a while! But, take them consciously
and with intention and check back in periodically to make sure you
eventually get back into a groove that will restore that balance you’ve
been working on.
Anita Phillips, now CFO of Carlson Marketing International in
Plymouth, Minnesota, recalls narrowly getting off track, and back on