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The Tightrope Walk Of Work-Life Balance

The Work-Life Balance Series

Everyone wants more time to spend with their wife, their children, or their friends. Work seems to get in the way of this quite often. Even more so, work tends to consume other parts of our lives.

work and life are like a tightrope walk

Many people have their work-life balance out of whack. It’s one of the easiest things to do. Whether this is due to issues at home (an angry wife) or challenges at work, we tend to mess up one or the other.

The Tightrope Walk Of Work-Life Balance

For years, the work-life balance looked like:

  • Office hours of 9-5
  • No outside communication after office hours
  • Paid vacation with little to no interruptions

Things have changed. The advent of the cell phone has made separating your home life from your work life incredibly difficult.  Read more...

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People Are Tired Of Fake

You’ve probably seen online thought leaders share about how they’re so authentic. About how they want to be real with you. How they want you to get to know them.

Why are they saying these things? Because they know people want real, authentic, true people. The problem is, many of these people aren’t being what they claim they are.

People need you to be real

Photo by Matese Fields

Claiming you’re authentic is easy. Saying you’re real is super simple.

Being real is not quite as easy.

People Want Real… But They’re Not Getting It

Marketers have learned what people want. The people have spoken and they say they want someone who is real. Someone who is honest.

The problem is, finding someone online who is real and honest is hard. Putting on a facade and portraying what someone is looking for is easy.

This is why people have created customer avatars. These are the people they want to speak to… So they create a persona that speaks their language.  Read more...

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Leadership Lessons From Unstoppable

A Reel Leadership Flashback Article (Guest Article by James Schreier)

Unstoppable is the 2010 film based loosely on a real incident of a runaway train.  Generally praised for its action and described as a “great popcorn film,” it grossed $167 million.  Unstoppable starred Denzel Washington as Frank Barnes, soon to be retired – unwilling forced by the railroad – and Chris Pine as Will Colson, a new conductor distracted by his personal problems.  There are two other key players, Connie Hooper (Rosario Dawson) as the Yardmaster and Oscar Galvin (Kevin Dunn) as the VP of Operations for the railroad.

Leadership lessons from the movies - Unstopable

When a train leaves the railyard, unmanned, running at full speed, Frank Barnes and Will Colson begin several different attempts to stop the train before it would catastrophically crash on a high bridge with a tight curve in a community of 780K and located next to multiple fuel tanks.  Read more...

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Leadership Lessons From A Marathon Run

What a marathon taught me about leadership

Never in my life did I want to run a marathon. I thought it wasn’t for me. And the distance, 26.2 miles, seemed too far for my legs to carry me. Yet, this past Sunday, I ran my first (and I’m saying my only) marathon.

What running a marathon can teach you about leadership

Image by Matt Biller

I ran the marathon for a reason. In areas without access to clean water 1 out of every 2 children die before the age of 5 because of water-related issues. Because of this, I chose to run with Team World Vision and bring clean water to these children. Currently, the West Michigan Team World Vision team raised over $400,000 in donations for clean water. That’s a lot of people’s lives changed! You can still make a difference by going HERE and donating.

So, that’s why I ran a marathon this year. Through this marathon experience, I was reminded of key leadership truths. We’re going to take a look at those leadership truths in the rest of this article.  Read more...

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Stop Shoulding… Start Doing

Are you shoulding everywhere?

I far too often find myself shoulding. And I know I shouldn’t should myself.

You shouldn’t should yourself either. Shoulding yourself puts you in a bad spot.

Your shoulding is stopping you from greatness

Photo by Christopher Sardegna

But what is shoulding? Shoulding is the act of saying “I should take care of my estimated taxes” or “I should spend more time with my wife. She really deserves my attention.”

Instead, we let those ideas be shoulds…

And our relationships suffer. Our businesses suffer. Our personal health suffers.

Shoulding is a form of procrastination. One you should put to rest.

When you start saying “I should…” stop yourself. You’re about to wreck yourself.

You can change your “I shoulds” to “I wills” or “I ams.” The way we use our phrases impacts the actions we take.  Read more...