Your
Self Promotion & Small Business Marketing Guide:
About Molly
Gordon, MCC
* * *
Articles
Catalog
Coaching
Resources & Links
Retreats & Teleclasses
Speaking &
Facilitation
Home | Contact
|
Work Life Balance: Adding White Space
by Molly Gordon, MCC
You most probably heard that work
life balance is called the ''holy grail of the 21st century.'' In bookstores,
the bookshelves groan with books devoted to the topic, yet ironically
enough, quite a few people just can't find the time to read them. May
this article help you cast a fresh eye on what work life balance means
to you and take a further step towards balanced life.
Graphic designers and layout people will tell you that
white space is what makes it possible for us to register text on a printed
page or a computer screen. White space gives order, context, and emphasis
to what matters.
White space facilitates delight: it makes it possible
for the contents of a page or of a life to be arranged in a pleasing way.
It requites and allows artful choice. Without it, everything seems equally
urgent, similarly important.
Because it is empty, it is tempting to fill white space
when the pressure is on. If you've ever tried to read an email that isn't
broken up into short paragraphs, you know what happens when too much content
squeezes out the white space. It is hard to track meaning, hard to isolate
key points, hard to know how to respond.
The same thing happens when there is not enough white
space in our lives. When we steal time from the white space to make another
meeting, start another project, make another call, we end up distracted,
confused, and reactive. Depending on our individual styles, we may get
irritable, weepy, bossy, or simply forgetful, none of which saves time,
makes money, or engenders effective collaboration. In an ironic turnabout,
we may start saying "no" to things we'd like to say "yes"
to and vice versa. Play feels like work, work loses its charm, work
life balance quits us.
However, if we expand or maintain white space in times
of great challenge, we will often notice that unexpected opportunities
and solutions arise. When a problem is too big or complex to be solved
with available resources, we have to go to another level to solve it.
White space helps us find that other level and bring
work life balance back, when pushing harder and moving faster won't
work.
I wrote a version of this article in September, 2001,
when I realized that grappling with the events of that month required
extra energy and that I needed more white space for a while as I adapted
to the demands of those times. I think we are in similar times now, when,
regardless of your politics or perspective, world events require our heartfelt
and intelligent reflection, a process that is not likely in the short
term to result in clear cut solutions. Staying awake, connected, and present
in such times is a big job, and it's the kind of job that requires white
space.
I'm renewing my commitment to white space for the next
few weeks. I leave for a month-long vacation soon,
and it is tempting to work round the clock until I go. But I know too
well the costs of that choice. So I'm getting out into the garden this
weekend, taking time for music and reading, and making myself available
for an afternoon nap or two. This is not self-indulgence. It's not even
self-care. It's cultivating the white space that I need in order to maintain
work life balance, show up, serve, and prosper in every aspect
of my life and work.
If there is not enough white space
in your life to sustain work life balance, or if, like me, you
need more white space than usual right now, take some time to revise your
commitments and declare a moratorium on promises for a few days. If you
are a manager, ask yourself how you can support your people in having
the white space they need. It's not necessary to make a production of
this; you can accomplish a good deal by simply keeping white space in
mind as you assign tasks, evaluate performance, and manage the context
and mood of your teams.
Caring for white space can allow the shape of what is
truly important to emerge while giving us the breathing room to
stay balanced and respond more completely and effectively, if at
a slower pace.
* * *
 Learn
more about Authentic Promotion - a comprehensive small
business marketing resource that turns marketing and self promotion into
a path of increasing self-awareness, authenticity, and right livelihood.
In particular, the strategies of maintaining your work-life
balance you learn to apply will build the solid foundation for your
authentic prosperity as an entrepreneur.
* * *
Contact an acknowledged expert
on work-life balance issues for small business owners Molly Gordon at:
Shaboom Inc. Life could be a dream…
PO Box 195
Suquamish, WA 98392-0195
mgordon@authenticpromotion.com
As a business coach and small
business marketing consultant, Molly Gordon, MCC, is available in Greater
Seattle Area and internationally |
|
