I speak with many leaders on a daily basis and one of the most frequent challenges that I hear about from leaders at this time is their inability to maintain work-life balance. It is my opinion that their goal should actually be to maintain “LIFE”-balance. Leaders should aim to keep all of their required daily life duties and interests in balance. Work is only one aspect of how they spend their time. No single daily activity should outweigh the others. They need a healthy balance of time and effort spent on all meaningful or purposeful life activities.
When I was in the occupational therapy program at Florida International University back in the eighties, one of the therapy activities we studied was the Pie of Life. I don’t remember if this was an assessment or an intervention? However, it was a therapy activity that was very meaningful to me at that time, and one that I have used many times since with my patients and the leaders that I coach.
The pie of life can be done in many ways, however the way I usually recommend is to make a list of activities that you spend time doing everyday on a usual day. The pie represents a 24 hour period. Divide the pie into pieces of time based on the way you spend your time in a 24 hour period. For example, if you usually spend 8 hours sleeping draw a wedge that takes up one third of the pie and label it sleep. You could also, divide the pie to represent generally what percentage of time in a week that you typically spend on the activities that you value in your life.
Here are some examples of activities (besides work) that you could add to your Pie of Life: household responsibilities, family, sleep, spirituality, personal care, socializing, leisure time, romance, health/exercise, etc. However, you can use any labels that help describe how you spend time in your life. Feel free to be as specific as possible in your list of activities. Be sure to include activities that may not be considered productive activities such as watching television, or other unhealthy activities or habits. After completing the Pie of Life activity examine how your time is spent and where you need to make adjustments based on your values, mission, and vision. It is important to be honest and transparent when developing your Pie.
Here is an example of my pie of life, in which I identified 9 activities and calculated my percentages of time based on the 168 hours in a week.
I hope that this activity offers you the opportunity to examine the balance in your life, and expand your personal mission to improve your life balance. Maybe consider getting more sleep, watching less television, spending more time on health and exercise, or committing to spending more time spiritually or with family. Engagement in a balance of good and healthy activities which give your life meaning and purpose must have equal focus to improve your positive emotions and productivity. When leaders focus on their life-balance they may be perceived by others as more authentic, balanced, approachable, and concerned about others well-being.