Let me ask you a question…When you start feeling that sense of overload or overwhelm during the day, what do you do about it? Maybe your team is underperforming by missing deadlines or allowing differences of opinions to become their focus? Do you turn a blind eye and hope that the stress of handling these unwelcomed situations will simply go away?

How many times in the past week have you said, “I only have ___________ minutes right now?”

Judging from my conversations with coaching clients and program participants, we are all saying it a lot more often. Not that it's a bad thing to be cognizant of how much time you have available. It's just that saying the phrase usually leads to choosing an easy-to-complete task (like checking email, social media, or some mindless activity) that really doesn't move your work or life forward in the most meaningful way.

In my book, Juggling Elephants, Todd Musig and I outline how the best way to manage your work and life is like running a circus. A key tenet is that you have three "rings" in your life: A work ring, a relationship ring, and a self ring. The key to success, we believe, is to have quality activities in all three rings... not just one or two.

An interesting part of the training on the book is

"Work is my hobby," he said with a weak smile, and then continued by sharing all he had on his plate at his job. It's a comment I hear far too often. We have become so conditioned to focus on work until some nebulous point in the future when a break will magically occur... but rarely does.

A recent article from Peter Jones also makes the case that hobbies aren't just a luxury but can be essential for our success at work.

Last week I was interviewed by a NY Times writer for an article entitled, Keep Your Apple Picking Plans. The essence of the article was about why people keep or abandon plans for leisure time. They had actually interviewed some individuals about their plans a few months ago and followed up to see if they kept their plans. Some did while some didn't.

Perfectionism wreaks so much havoc in our lives. At work we fail to take action on an issue or challenge because none of the solutions offered are without some negative consequence. We resist learning a new skill because we aren’t “good at it” the first time, or worse yet, we’re afraid to show our mistakes to others.

Listen to almost anyone who is stressed out by all they have going on, and you will soon hear something like, "I just need to find better work life balance." While it's been a common phrase for years, we are now recognizing that it is both an unattainable and undesirable condition. A couple of reasons include:

Overwhelmed with our schedules and underwhelmed with our sense of accomplishment, we trudge through our days hoping one day things will get better. We rationalize our situation with lots of "When statements" like: 

Already feeling stressed about the holidays and you still have turkey in your refrigerator? You're not alone. According to the American Psychological Association, up to 69% of us have greater levels of stress during this holiday season. The top stressors found in one study were a lack of time, a lack of money, and the stress to give and receive gifts. It seems that I more frequently hear people say, "I just want to get through the holidays." How sad. Regardless of your religion or spiritual beliefs, this upcoming holiday season offers the strongest opportunity to relax, reflect, and recharge.... if used correctly.

In our activity-obsessed culture, the idea of doing nothing is not considered a positive thing to do. Oh we talk about relaxing and disengaging, but even those moments of idleness are incessantly interrupted by the ding, chirp, or ring of an electronic device. The tide is changing, however, and there is now mounting evidence that we need these moments of what I call "sacred idleness. Forbes had an excellent article on the subject just a few months ago.  I've taught the general benefits of taking an "intermission" in my work life balance training for several years, and am always looking for more neurologically-based facts to support the value of doing nothing.