Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

Answering some questions from executives, Kevin Cashman makes some good points on balancing our work and our lives.

One questioner asked: "I love what I do...Why should I build in more balance if I love my work? While there is nothing wrong with loving what we do, and we should, it misses the point entirely.

What about health and marriage or relationships? How can loving what we do be the cause of destroying our physical or mental health, along with marriages or relationships? To me it is no longer loving what you're doing, but obsessing with what you're doing; there's a big difference.

And being a leader demands that we take time from meditation so that we can envision what our companies and departments need. To take time to relax and meditate means that we must take time to stop. There is just nothing like it to rejuvenate ourselves and see things much clearer.

The one thing we must watch for when we say we love what we do is to be sure we're not replacing someone for the work we do. Many people think that they love their work because in reality it relieves them from having to face something else; usually someone else.

Obviously there's times when certain demands require more from us. But if that's a never-ending process, than there is something unhealthy with how we are viewing our role. If we can't balance our life with work, there's either something wrong with the way the business is set up, or something wrong with our lives. Many times it's both.

The key for any of us in leadership roles is to put a "value" on work/life balance. If it has no value to us, we'll never impute the time and strategies to make it a reality. The way to impute value is to ask yourself the question of what you'll lose if you don't.