Work-Life Balance Archives - Sharon M Weinstein

December 14, 2019 By Sharon Weinstein

Is it the end of just the beginning?

With just two weeks remaining in 2019, the time has never been better than to address your stress-relief goals. You have the chance to finish this year and begin 2020 with a new mindset and new results.

What are your three greatest stress triggers? After a few relaxing days off, are you eager to get back to your job, or anxious because of that job? Think about it! You’ve had a great vacation, or even a great weekend. Now, it’s time to get back to reality—to whatever stressed you in the first place and necessitated that important respite. There is so much to do and no time to get it done. The first few days are hectic until you settle back into your routine. Emails and snail mail remain unanswered. Your voice-mailbox is full. What you thought would be an easy transition has become a life challenge, and you wonder how you will get through each day with your mind intact.

Life can be challenging and stressful. Creating work/life balance is critical to success and survival. Living the dream, and overcoming the pain is something else.

In today’s economy, stress may be attributed as much to having a job as to not having one. Layoffs around the country impact workers in all settings. If you fear the loss of your job—even a job you don’t like—you experience stress. How will you feed your family? How will you pay your bills? Will you have to think twice before making routine purchases? We all have different stress triggers, but work tops the list.

Causes of work-related stress include being unhappy in your job, a heavy workload, long hours, unclear expectations of your work, bullying and toxic work settings. Is that what you want to return to? Vacations and holidays come and go, but stress is ongoing. This is reality!

“Reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it.”

– Lily Tomlin

How will you cope now and in 2020?

Apply these simple strategies for finding life balance, and begin to deal with the challenges you would otherwise face:

Create realistic goals.
Manage your time wisely.
Eat healthy.
Learn when to say no and when to let go!

Minimize the pain by choosing one to two strategies to tackle; this process will put you on-track—starting now! Enjoy the holiday season and say hello to being stress-free!

October 28, 2019 By Sharon Weinstein

Let’s talk stress numbers…

What are those numbers?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 60-70% of all disease and illness is stress-related.
Approximately 75 to 90% of physician-office visits are stress-related.
According to the American Institute of Stress, a whopping $300 billion dollars per year is spent on job stress, including absenteeism, turnover, diminished productivity, and medical/legal/insurance costs.

What about you?

If you are busy with a demanding job and family and friends who seek your time and attention, you are blessed, but only if you can handle it. Consider the stressors in your own life, including the things that deplete your energy and bring you down.

When your devices are on low battery, do you plug them in? When your vehicle needs fuel, do you fill the tank? What about your most vulnerable commodity – your body – what do you do for it?

You may be a workaholic like I was; I thought the day was thirty hours long. I tried to fit a schedule into each of those hours to achieve life to the fullest, and my strategy did not work! As one who has reinvented myself professionally throughout my career, I am aware of the challenges of work/life balance. I worked long hours and I always felt as if something was missing…and that something was family time. Balancing a career or business with your personal life is possible. Are You Ready to Recharge Your Battery? offers actions you can take to build the life and career you want, need, and deserve.

We need to recharge- so get set, get ready, and let’s go. We’ll explore the process of engaging in life and work, prepare for change and a charge, manage time and resources, and reinvent ourselves. The process begins here and now, with content and action steps at the end of each section that empower to act, recover, and restore to a full charge.

Now is the time to enjoy Are You Ready to Recharge Your Battery? and then pay it forward by sharing the message with your peers through an amazing Amazon or Good Reads review. For your electronic copy, contact me now.

March 24, 2019 By Sharon Weinstein

Are you a meeting planner with too much to do?

Achieving More by Doing Less…what meeting planners need to know-

Are you kidding me?
Is this even possible?
How can I make it happen?
When do I start?

Work-life or workday balance…what is it and why does it matter? Whose responsibility is it? As meeting planners and team players, we share the responsibility of implementing strategies to ensure work-life balance.

Annual conferences, regional meetings…they spell long days, long weeks, and the need to be on- all the time with multiple responsibilities pulling you in multiple directions! There is so much to do and so little time! How can you achieve more and do less?

Is all this a cliché or is it reality? In today’s environment, it certainly seems that it is indeed our reality – a reality of the times in which we live and our expansive scope of work. Balancing work and personal life can be a challenging task. Are you prepared for the challenge?

Is your performance impaired because you are out of balance? Are you caught up in the balancing act, unable to do it all and care only for others in your lives without caring for yourself? You are only as good as you are balanced! If you do not take the time for yourself – yes, even with the array of responsibilities pressuring you now – you will not be the best that you can be. That personal best includes you as parent, partner, friend, partner, professional, educator or event manager. That personal best is what will enable you to reach new heights in your career, to achieve your goals and to maintain your health.

It will start with a successful conference or meeting, allowing you to achieve more and do less, minus the stress. To learn about the five steps needed for balance, opt into https://smwgroupllc.com and receive the secret tool that will get you to, and through, that next meeting.

March 1, 2019 By Sharon Weinstein

It’s time to get SMART and detox!

You have a plethora of SMART devices and apps that facilitate your life’s work, keep you on track and on time, turn on the lights and TV, and shut them down. Wouldn’t it be great if you had an app or device that allowed you to master self-care the smart way?

As a business owner, you work long hours and probably take little time for yourself. The time is now to get SMART, and start by forming a digital detox (yes from those amazing devices and apps that you cannot live without). Try these five easy steps to regaining your time and energy, while getting SMART about self-care:

Think about the communication tools you use and select one! Then, request your clients to use that one to communicate with you.
Set parameters for time online; you do it for your kids, and you should do it for yourself.
Schedule breaks for yourself- even 15 minutes per day will make a huge difference in how you feel and your performance.
Add mindfulness to your walking and eating routines.
Make a gratitude list- think about people, places, and things that bring you joy.

SMART devices and apps do not ensure smart use of your time. It’s time to get smart by identifying those things that must be done and those that can wait. Identify the groups to which you must belong, and those for which you must volunteer your time and efforts. Complete your work and take a break! Even though there is so much to do and so little time, take time for yourself and make being SMART and in balance a part of your daily routine! You will thank yourself, and those around you will thank you too.

April 1, 2018 By Sharon Weinstein

Culture drives performance…engagement

Employees are unhappy at work, and companies are paying for it! Results matter and to survive and thrive in today’s economy, companies need an engaged workforce. The bottom line, in companies large and small, is a concern that can be managed through culture and hiring practices.

If you were to rewrite the future of your organization, what might that look like? What changes could you make in your company’s culture that would drive performance, enhance the bottom line, and generate an engaged workforce that ensures your success and theirs?

As a master of work/life balance, I’ve spoken and written about the impact of the environment on behavior, productivity, relationships, and yes- health! What I know is that CULTURE DRIVES PERFORMANCE…and a culture of success is the first step in communicating your goals, your vision, and your mission. Employees can and should be ambassadors for your organization; they will do so if you set expectations with them, communicate those expectations, and hold them accountable.

Reward your superstars by recognizing and cloning them. Author Seth Godin has often referenced past culture (follow instruction, be on time, work hard, suck it up), with current culture (be remarkable, be generous, be creative and connect people and ideas). What I know is that CULTURE DRIVES PERFORMANCE, and a culture of recognition and replication will lead to success.

You are familiar with the Good to Great philosophy of “having the right people in the right seats on your bus.” Take it a step further with the right fit credo. Hire for values! What I know is that CULTURE DRIVES PERFORMANCE, and a value-driven culture will attract and retain the right people.

In the words of John Ruskin, “In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit for it. They must not do too much of it. And they must have a sense of success in it.”

Ruskin says in a simple quote what I know to be true: CULTURE DRIVES PERFORMANCE, and a culture of success, recognition and fit will drive your future!

To start the process: