Find work/life balance by identifying your stressors

by Sarah Hathorn

Stand on one foot and then lean to the side. You’ll see that being unbalanced robs you of your power while it demands lots of muscle to help you regain balance without falling. If you are a leader a loss of power drains you of your leadership ability.

The clue or red flag to help you find the right work/life equilibrium is stress. Some stress is healthy, in moderation, because it can motivate or energize us. But too much of the wrong kind turns into anxiety, and that can be deadly. Just ask any cardiologist. Telltale symptoms to help you identify stressors are mental fatigue, doing things in the extreme, engaging in avoidance and suffering from frequent illnesses like colds and the flu.

Short-circuit stress before it blows a fuse:

• Practice positive self-talk instead of listening to the negative chatter in your mind.
• Avoid blaming others before acknowledging your own role in the situation.
• Develop a solution-based, forward-looking perspective that seeks to first find answers, not problems.
• When something bad happens, try to reframe it in a positive light by asking what you can learn from it to avoid that kind of circumstance next time.

Probably the most important personal intervention is to get daily exercise, even if it is just taking a walk for 10 to 20 minutes. Exercise releases chemicals in the brain that automatically make us more optimistic, and everyone wants to follow a leader who has a positive outlook.

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Sarah Hathorn is the CEO of Illustra Consulting and may be reached at www.illustraconsulting.com.