In response to these very real pressures, some people apply a “shift worker” mentality.  They punch a clock – perhaps an imaginary one – but they punch it none-the-less.  ”These are the times I work,” they think to themselves, “and these are the times I’m off.”

Sounds reasonable enough.  Except it’s a mistake and it doesn’t work.

Our work is fundamentally creative, sometimes messy, always relational, and demands high-levels of cognition.  We must have sharp emotional intelligence skills and we must be responsive – to donors, our institutions, and those students/clients/patients we serve.

By definition, then, our work is not “shift work.”  We don’t show up at a factory to make widgets for 8.5 hours and then head home.  We can’t put boundaries on our work.  Instead, we need to, and should, work until outcomes are achieved – for our institutions, our donors, and those we serve.  This may occur at 3pm in a meeting or at 8pm over dinner.

So the question then becomes, “but what about a decent work-life balance?”   We all have important roles outside of work – Dad, Mom, Family Member, Church leader, etc.  And, oh yeah, we need rejuvenation time for self – in whatever form that comes for you.  So, how can we reach our far edge of promise professionally in this field and still have a balanced, healthy life?

The answer is not to attempt to compartmentalize our lives like the shift-worker.  Instead, it is to plan using a lens of priorities.  What are the priorities for the year?  the month?  the week? the day?  What are the really big things I should strive to get accomplished in my work, for my family, for my community, for me?

Far too often, I walk into development shops where the primary problem is that the culture is reactionary.  Days start and end by doing whatever pops up first.  Even to-do lists don’t provide strategic guidance.  Instead, they are crafted on sticky notes as last minute thoughts while getting out of the shower that morning.  And thus, days and weeks go by with the primary achievements being putting out fires, responding to phone calls, regardless of who is calling, and answering every email as soon as it hits the in-box.

When we live our professional lives in this way, we give up the very control we need to have for a healthy work-life balance.  We become 24/7 responders.   And that is a tiring, unhealthy place to be.  It leads to burn-out.

Instead, by spending more time thinking about the priority relationships we need to build, the priority events we need to attend, the priority trips we need to take, we start to shape our work-life balance in a way that makes us more effective professionally and more healthy personally.  Yes, this means some things will go undone.  But if the event, trip, or task does not offer a high-level of return for your investment, what really have you lost by not doing it?

Our institutions and those we serve rightly deserve more from us than a shift-work mentality.  And so do our families, our communities, our churches, and our health.  The answer is not to try to plan the times to work and the times not to work.  The answer is to become  more purposeful in setting and living by our priorities.

With all respect to Covey. . . I think this isn’t completely right.  Here’s why:

What is it that we plan that ever ends? I mean really ends?  Stopped. Completed.  No more.  Finished.  Finito.

• A successful ask simply leads to stewardship, cultivation, and, hopefully, another more successful ask.
• The conclusion of a special event simply evolves into post event evaluation and cultivation of prospects – and planning for the next event.
• Campaigns?  Ending?  Uh, yeah, you get the drift.

Even in our larger lives, there isn’t much that we plan for that truly, really ends.  Graduation from college may mark the transition into adulthood and the world of work, but, if our professors did right by us, we have adopted an attitude of continuous learning and will be “students” for the remainder of our lives.  Rearing children never really ends.  And for many, death itself is simply a transition to another “life,” not an ending.

If we really think about it, most nothing “ends,” but everything does evolve, everything changes.

So, why not begin with the journey in mind?

How might you engage differently with donors if, instead of trying to get them to bend to the “end” you have in mind, you start by valuing the journey with them?   The journey in which everyone creates, molds, massages, compromises, enhances, adjusts, mentors, listens, teaches, learns, and, builds a stronger, more effectively institution in the service to the greater good?

When we value the journey first – when we cherish the journey as the true “end” –  we just might find that we will far exceed any goals we could set for ourselves or our institutions.

So, at the dawn of 2010, I’m asking a question that, on its face, appears to be a financial one.  Will you be an investor or a spender in 2010?  But really, this question is much broader than your finances.  It’s really a question about your life.

Here’s what I mean.  How will you allocate your time, talent, and treasure in 2010?  Will you primarily invest or spend?

When you invest, you choose to allocate your time, talent, and treasure in life areas that have the promise of future growth for you or others.  For example, you invest time into children.  You invest talent into a calling.  And you invest treasure into a growing business or an effective non-profit.  All of these have the promise to meaningfully enhance your life and the lives of others well into the future.

On the other hand, when you spend, you choose to allocate your time, talent, and treasure in life areas that promise to add little to no future value for you or others.  For instance, you spend time watching sitcoms on tv.  You spend talent on a job.  You spend treasure on the “perks” of life – be that Starbucks or a luxury automobile  (both of which lose tremendous value at the precise moment you agree to purchase them).  All of these will not appreciably change your future – other than to possibly be a drain on it!

Don’t get me wrong.  Everyone invests some and spends some.  But, I’m convinced that a life well lived is one in which we slowly but surely move toward the investor side of the Investor-Spender continuum.

Ultimately, the investor allocates her time, talent, and treasure in ways which will provide the structure for a well lived life.  She can embrace a measure of satisfaction knowing she has created value not only for herself but also for her family and others.

So, how will you approach 2010?  Will you move further to the investor side of the continuum?  Will you spend your time, talent, and treasure in ways that promise some level of future appreciation?  Based on all the depreciation that occurred in 2009, perhaps the investor approach is needed.

• Read – allow yourself the opportunity to be stretched intellectually from the ideas of others.  I’m not talking about casual reading, but pick up something that challenges your thinking about work and life.
• Run – find some way to push yourself physically.  It may not be running, per se, but you should regularly work up a sweat.
• Reflect – whether you pray or not, you should take time to reflect on the goodness of life and the blessings you enjoy.  In addition, I would encourage you to pause and learn from your past efforts – both good and bad.

Think about it:  Each day if you practice the 3 R’s – Read, Run, and Reflect – you will be at a distinct advantage.  You will enhance your leadership capabilities.   But it isn’t enough to implement the 3 R’s for a little while.  You must employ them as a regular part of your life.  When you make the 3 R’s a habit and regular part of your life, good things will happen.

To achieve the latter may have have little to do with the so-called “work-life balance,” and more to do with spending increasing amounts of time engaged in activities that are in alignment with your disposition, values, and passions. Work-life balance suggests that there is some algebraic equation which weights work and pleasure by some calculus and, if figured correctly, can equate to a satisfying life. I would suggest though that it isn’t about balance as much as it is about identifying energizing and rewarding ways to spend your time.

About a year ago I made a professional decision to begin consulting which meant a great deal of travel. This decision means evenings away from my family. With two small children, such a decision was and remains an important one for my wife and me. However, because the work I am doing currently is in strong alignment with my disposition and passions, I am able to enjoy more satisfying family relationships. And, yes, my family members concur!

Instead of trying to figure out how to balance the time and pressures of my work life with the rest of my life, I prefer to spend more and more of my time engaged in life activities (be they family, work, or otherwise) from which I derive meaning, value, and energy. When I’m doing that well, balance becomes a useless aspiration.