Work + Home + Community + Self

Reprint: R1409K

Stressed out. Overcommitted. Distracted. This is how many people feel today. Everyone is struggling to have meaningful work, domestic bliss, community engagement, and a satisfying inner life. But committing to better work/life balance isn’t the answer. It assumes you must make trade-offs among the four main aspects of your life: work, home, community, and self. A more realistic and gratifying goal is better integration through “four-way wins,” which improve performance in all domains. Integration starts with embracing three principles: be real, be whole, and be innovative. This article outlines the skills that bring those principles to life and shows how to hone several critical skills with exercises such as:

• Four circles, in which you assess the importance of each domain and then diagram the extent to which the values you pursue in them are compatible

• Talent transfer, in which you examine all your skills, from mentoring colleagues to organizing family activities, and how each might be used to achieve different ends

• Crowdsourcing, in which you gather solutions for problems from creative friends and test them out

Through these and other exercises, executives can find the path to a more fulfilling and less hectic life.