This week’s blog posting is courtesy of my colleague, Georgina Forrest – an organizing expert who understands that part of clearing through the clutter involves balancing work and the rest of your life.  It’s true.  I mean really … when it’s all said and done are any of us going to say “Geez I wished I had worked more!”  I don’t think so.  Read on…

“Dot your working life with islands of leisure time, schedule time to work on the priorities in your life, interact with people on a daily basis and spend more time living the present and less time pursuing the future.”

~ Harold Taylor

Get Your (Balancing) Act Together!

Recently I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine.  He had asked me for some organizing advice about the ‘right’ way to get stuff done.  It seems he had a build up of incomplete projects and tasks – many with past deadlines – and was struggling with that responsibility, all the while itching to get moving on some new and exciting ideas and opportunities.  How best to set up a system to manage this effectively and get it all done?

Does that sound familiar to you?

Well, before I had a chance to help him out, he came to his own ‘aha’ moment about this dilemma.  He realized that he had become SO focused on getting stuff done at work, he was missing out on time with his family.

Does any of THIS ring a bell with you …

• You work longer hours and still can’t get it all done?
• You think checking your blackberry while out with the family is effective multi-tasking?
• Spending time with only one friend at a time is not very time-effective?
• You’re all things to all people but you feel like you’re not much of anything to anybody?
• Life feels like it’s passing by so fast it’s actually making a ‘whooshing’ sound?

Brace yourself.  I’m about to dispel a huge myth for you.

No matter how many hours you work, you will NEVER get it all done!

That’s right – NEVER!

We are constantly barraged with new stuff coming at us faster than we can possibly keep up.  We’ve made ourselves accessible 24/7/365 – believing that we’ll be more efficient.  As a result, we’ve become less efficient.

We’re forgetting one important piece to the puzzle of life …

Balance is the key to managing your life.

Take time to do pleasurable things.  When you work – work hard but when you play – play really hard.

My friend got his ‘aha’ moment, when he finally broke down and spent an hour with his sons fixing their bikes – a task that he kept putting off in the interest of ‘getting work done.’  He realized that he thoroughly enjoyed that one-on-one time with his boys, as did they.  They learned how to fix something from Dad – and boy, did Dad ever learn a huge lesson about the value of quality time and balance in his life.  He actually got emotional telling me about it.

I’ll bet he never felt that emotional over a project or task at work.

He’s going to prioritize the important stuff, then make time to work on it.  But more importantly, he’s going to make time to work on enjoying the fruits of all his hard labor too.

Creating a personal life can be an investment in your work.  When you are refreshed and balanced, you WILL be more productive.

Now, get on with your day!

Georgina Forrest, your Organizing Expert, provides office-organizing services, consulting and training workshops to busy professionals. She shows them how to get calm-control of their workspace – one pile at a time. For more information on how she can help you get organized visit her website at http://sworganizing.ca or email her at info@sworganizing.ca.

Sign up for Georgina’s FREE SmartOffice! Tips at http://sworganizing.ca and receive a bonus report: 5 Time Management Mistakes People Typically Make! And how to painlessly fix them.