Right now, I’m hiding out in my office, which also doubles as our bedroom. I’m in one of my go-to tees from Target, with a rice bowl sitting empty next to me as I type. I hear excitable kids’ conversation from the dinner table, over the soundtrack from Frozen 2 playing in the living room. My tea is cold next to me, and I’m certain that I haven’t seen the bottom of a coffee cup in years. Since it’s Tuesday, David and I high five kid duties around 4PM, and I swap the channels of my brain from my teaching-mom over to professional-strengths-maven.
Most other evenings don’t look much different. Most often a hand off and holing away to engage a different part of my life. A fairly robust yet still delicate rhythm of the week.
Myriad moving notes, melodies and harmonies, string together to create the rhythm of family and work and friends and sometimes, if we plan it just right, an extra moment to breathe.
It’s not a balance. It really can’t be.
In a balance of 17 things, one slips or tips or falters…and the entire operation comes crashing to the ground.
Instead, it truly is music. It’s a rhythm.
Sometimes it feels more like the cacophony of musicians as they warm up their instruments on the stage before the conductor enters. Before the lights lower to begin. It’s chaos and loud and unrestrained.
But then, we can lower the lights, reset, ready position, and begin again. In rhythm.
This week I’ve revisited the Isogo TV Balance series — Episodes 46-53. I needed it.
{Old podcast episodes are kind of like a time capsule…pregnant for a different time, living in the Big Apple, but I won’t mention…younger!}
We’ve had more cacophony than smooth melodies lately. Our transitions have felt like start and stop staccato syncopation, instead of the smooth key changes that make for easy listening.
How about you?
Is the rhythm of your life creating the soundtrack or pop song that fills your body, your work, your family and your schedule with joy, freedom and the right kind of challenge?
Here’s what I’m reminded through the Balance Series on Isogo TV.
Work Life Balance Revisited as Rhythm
1 :: You HAVE to use your strengths
If you scour the web for balance best practices, you’ll find a million different solutions. There are some helpful things out there, for sure. But truly, the ideal life rhythm for you is going to be unique to you and the way you’re naturally wired.
When you find your strengths-based rhythm, you will be {for the most part} energized and not drained.
You’ll know you’re close.
2 :: ONE thing is enough to start with.
When you resolve to fix your cacophony, it’s tempting to try to right all the wrongs all at once. Or maybe to fire the entire orchestra and start over.
It’s like being a kid in an ice cream shop with your face pressed up against the glass, eyes wide with options, then asking for 13 scoops. Having it all is not going to be the answer.
But one strengths-aligned change just might give you the fuel you need to feel more at home with your rhythm.
3 :: The feedback loop makes it all sing.
In leadership, you understand the value of a feedback loop. You try something, you assess how it goes, you gather inputs, you report back, you tweak based on the input/feedback, and you try again. {If you’ve been following along with Leaders Who Give a Damn, you’ll know that type of communication is the gold standard}.
In re-rhythming your life, it is the same. The feedback loop — or in the Isogo TV Series, we call it the R.E.S.T. assessment — fuels the change and helps you to stick with it.
Then, you just might be ready for the next tweak, the next “one change”.
If it’s been a while since you listened or watched the Isogo TV Work Life Balance series, it’s a worthy revisit. If you can’t recall tuning in, it’s out there waiting for you.
Here is the link to the blog post that Rounds Up all eight episodes of the Isogo TV Work-Life Balance series.
You can also search for Episodes 46-53 on your fav listening or watching app.
{The best episodes IMHO are Episode 49 about energy and draining, Episode 50 about The Power of No and Epsiode 53 about the R.E.S.T. assessment. So you could start there with your Balance Revisited!}
Plus, don’t miss the partner resource to the series — the Balance Path Checklist to help chart your way to your ideal rhythm.
START WITH YOUR VIRTUAL COACH
Do you know what advantage your greatest strengths give YOU in your everyday wellbeing?
If you’re interested to explore more about your Strengths and want to see what it would be like to have Becky Hammond as your virtual coach — checkout her virtual coaching kick-starter — Strengths Startup. Get access to your StrengthsFinder CliftonStrengths Top 5 Strengths AND a 6 week follow up virtual coaching email series that gives you a closer look at each of your strengths.
Click here to explore your Strengths Startup.
CONNECT WITH ISOGO
For more IsogoTV Podcast episodes about leadership, teams, families and strengths click here –> Isogo TV Podcast.
To read more strengths-based insights and stories click here for the blog.
As always, your opinion matters…to me and to iTunes. Would you leave a rating + review on iTunes?? 
AND, be sure to tag #makerelationshipseasier as you scroll about your squares. See you there with @isogostrong!
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