Читать книгу Finding Your Balance - Joan Gurvis - Страница 9

Assessment: Gaining Clarity

Assessment helps you understand and gain clarity about your current situation so that you can identify the gaps between your present reality (where you are) and the future (where you want to be). Assessment provides you with information, which helps “unfreeze” your perspective, and results in a heightened awareness of yourself and understanding how others see you. A thorough assessment process becomes the “map” to help you move over the terrain and face the challenges that lie ahead. It is the process by which you develop new skills and perspectives that will help you become more effective in all aspects of your life.

Time Journal

There are many ways to assess whether your values and behavior are aligned. One simple form of assessment is to inventory how you spend your time. Keep a log for a full week or two and jot down what you do for any period of time of an hour or more. Some themes or categories will emerge: career, family, community, health, self, spiritual pursuits, and so on. As a second step, write down why you did what you did. What value was being served? Next, consider the following questions:

• Are the activities in your log necessary for daily living, for your career, for your family, for your health, or simply for pleasure?

• What percentage of time did you spend in work-related activities versus family activities?

• How much time did you take for yourself?

• What inspires and rejuvenates you? Did you spend enough time on those activities?

Warning Signs

We’ve listed below typical warning signs that we have learned about from our clients. Your life might be out of balance if …

1. You have conversations with yourself in which you say, “I’ve got to make more time for my significant other.” You hear yourself telling others that you really wish you had time to do certain things that you just don’t get done now.

2. Your relationships with your colleagues are less fun, less productive, and less easygoing than they used to be. From your point of view, your direct reports should be far more serious about work than they are. And you think that your family should appreciate you more than they do. They don’t realize how hard you work for them.

3. You are bone tired as well as frustrated, and you lean back to ask yourself why you stay at your computer long after the family has gone to bed. It’s 2:37 a.m., and you can’t recall exactly why you are sitting at your computer.