Do You Run Your Business, or Does Your Business Run You?
While working in the corporate world and at the same time starting up my Anchored Values Coaching business, I was comfortable and made the conscious decision that my corporate work was my priority. It was important for me to start my own business, something I had always been led to do, but it was a conscious decision for me to run my business and not for my business to run me. I knew my priorities and I honored them by my daily actions.
Did this mean that starting Anchored Values was less important to me? Not at all. Did it mean that I ignored the business? No it did not. I knew I could do both jobs, and both were important, but it required conscious decisions and a commitment to balance.
When I left my corporate role, I realized I still had to maintain a conscious state of awareness on my balance focus. Anyone who has ever started a business can tell you, it can be easy to get overwhelmed and the business become your total focus. It was important for me to remember the early lessons I had learned while starting my business.
My business is important to me, make no mistake about that. However, it is not my whole life. Carolyn, my wife, and I have created the most wonderful and fulfilling life together - one of my true priorities... my relationship with my children, my daily calls to my mother, my faith, my volunteer work, all of this is important and I'm not willing to give up on any of it. Yes, some daily shifting is required, but I enjoy the rewards of being committed to staying focused on these priorities.
If you think true balance may be currently missing, where do you start? There are many different processes, but I have simplified one down to the following six simple steps to get you started.
Awareness. Create a balance wheel listing the aspects of your life important to you (e.g. Faith, Family, Primary Relationship, Career, etc.) Rate each item on a scale of 1–10 as you currently see yourself. 1 = very weak, I’m not doing anywhere near as well in this area as I would like. 10 = This one is just the way I would want it to be! I have never seen anyone’s wheel perfectly round. We all have areas we need to work on, some more than others.
Priorities. Look at each item listed and determine where your biggest opportunities are. Which one(s), when improved, would have the greatest impact on your life? You will work on each one, but you cannot do everything at one time!
Goal. Get clear on what it is you are wanting to achieve on each item.
Vision. Describe to yourself what it will look like when you make an item a 10. Think about how you will feel (emotions, etc.) when you have achieved this. Think about how much this could improve your life.
Commitment. Write down specific steps you are willing to take to make it a 10. If you have a hard time making a commitment, you may want to reconsider if this is an item that should be on your list “at this time.”
Monitor. Keep a daily record on how your actions match your commitment. Expect that you might get off track. That’s ok. Refocus and continue forward. Just don’t stop. If you find yourself losing momentum, go back and read #4 above, and re-charge yourself thinking about the positive emotions and excitement you will feel when you have achieved your goal.
Don’t make the process any harder than it needs to be.
If you have questions or could use some ready-made forms to make it even easier, just respond to the post or send me an email at: lwilliamson@anchoredvalues.com. I will reply to each letter I receive.
Keep me posted on your progress. I would love to hear from you.