Before reading the article “Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life” I have decided to take a clear view of what I am not satisfied with and want to change in my life. It turns out that I am quite satisfied with my job because I love what I do and I am also happy to have some friends at work. Moreover, there are some chances for promotion. The only disappointing thing about my job is that it takes too much time and as a result I feel less involved into my family and community life. This fact makes me feel guilty. Nevertheless, when I was thinking about changes, I, like many other people, was a little nervous because I did not want to leave my “comfort zone”. But after reading the article I am eager to carry out some experiments because the author emphasizes that everybody has choice: we can try to make our lives better, though if anything goes wrong we can stop and come back to our usual lives. I think it is worth trying.
First of all, I started with setting clear and achievable goals in all 4 domains of my life: work, home, community, and self. My professional goal is to get a promotion. My personal characteristics suit the position I want to take. The only thing I have to do is to get a basic knowledge of a foreign language. I also want to strengthen bonds with my family. Speaking about community life, I will be happy if I do something for the greater good. I hope these 3 domains will influence my perception of self and I will be able to improve my health and find greater meaning in life.
As I have already mentioned, I have no problems at work. I do not want to boast but I am sure I can say so because I am quite a well-organized person. Thus, I can change little within the following categories: Tracking and Reflecting, Planning and Organizing, Delegating and Developing. For example, I always have a to-do list both for my work and personal life; I plan and prepare everything for the next day in the evening; I rank the tasks I should do and can delegate some low-priority activities to my subordinates. Thus, I have identified 3 achievable and at the same time challenging categories: Time Shifting and “Re-Placing”, Appreciating and Caring, and Rejuvenating and Restoring.
I have to admit that I have borrowed the idea for Time Shifting and “Re-Placing” category from the article. Surprisingly, it has never occurred to me that my job can be done from home. Practically all domains will benefit from this change. The thing is that we have a baby and my wife looks after her by herself most of the time because my commuting takes long hours. Moreover, she is an “owl” (goes to bed late at night and gets up by the afternoon) and I am a “lark” (an early riser). So, if I would be allowed to work from home, for example on Wednesday mornings, or at least to start working 1 hour later, I will spare some time for my wife to rest. I will also be more satisfied because I will spend more time with my family. As a result, in the office I will be fully concentrated on my work. Within this category I will also try to learn some Spanish while commuting because it will help me to get a promotion. This will result in higher income and the opportunity to spend more money on my family and charity.
Within the next category, Appreciating and Caring, I will join the Spanish language courses with my co-workers. I would also like to organize “Dads’ evenings”, when I will invite my friends and co-workers to go for a walk with our kids thus letting our spouses to rest a little. I also plan to devote one day a month to community service. If other Dads and Mums support me, I would like to organize some kind of bring-and-buy sale, because kids usually have a lot of toys and clothes that they have already overgrown but some other families desperately need them.
And last but not least category is Rejuvenating and Restoring. Changes in this category will help me to restore energy and will positively influence all the domains of my life. First of all, I will quit unhealthy habits. Sometimes I indulge in eating junk food and I have already gained some extra weight. So, I will try to keep to healthy diet and exercise more. For example, I can exercise on weekends when my wife and I take baby carriage and go to the park.
Furthermore, one should not forget that tracking the progress is an inevitable part of these experiments. On the one hand, it will help to evaluate changes that have occurred. On the other hand, it will help to mark problem areas in case some experiments fail. To monitor my progress, I will use both objective and subjective, quantitative and qualitative metrics.
Thus, for measuring my progress in learning Spanish I will use subjective metrics. As I am going to attend courses with my colleagues, I will rely on their feedback. Moreover, my wife can speak a little Spanish, so I will demonstrate her some new phrases or words that I will learn. For monitoring changes in family life, I will use qualitative characteristics. I am going to draw a graphic showing degree of satisfaction with family time. It will not take long, but it will demonstrate everything vividly. To track progress in my community life I will rely on quantitative data by recording hours spent on community service. And for evaluating my progress in self-development I will turn to both objective and subjective metrics. Hence, speaking about my diet, I will record food intake. And speaking about improving my personal characteristics, I will rely on feedback from my wife, friends, colleagues, and myself.
I hope these experiments will result in increased levels of satisfaction in all domains of my life and not only I but the most important people in my life will benefit as well. Though if anything goes wrong, I am ready to adapt and adjust because finding balance among all spheres of my life is extremely important for me.
Works Cited
Friedman, Stewart D. “Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life.” Harvard Business Review April 2008: 112-118. Print
