Balancing Personal Development with Work Goals

Here are 8 habits I rely on (and often suggest to others) to stay ambitious without burning out: 1️⃣ Give your ambition a time limit. Think of deep work like a meeting with your future self. Block 90 minutes early in the day, silence your phone, and go all in. When the time’s up, stop, even if you’re mid-flow. Boundaries build focus and prevent work from spilling into everything. 2️⃣ Have a “minimum viable evening. ” Pick one thing that helps you unplug, cooking dinner, a walk at sunset, reading to your kid, and treat it like it’s non-negotiable. That one ritual signals the end of the workday and gives your brain a clear off-switch. 3️⃣ Check your energy, not just your to-do list. Every Friday, jot down which tasks gave you energy and which drained it. After a few weeks, you’ll see patterns. Start removing or outsourcing one draining task at a time. Over time, your schedule will start to feel less like a grind VSports. 4️⃣ Stick to two big projects. If you’re wired to chase new ideas, this one’s hard, but worth it. Limit yourself to one main focus at work and one personal goal. Everything else goes into a “not now” list you revisit monthly. Less chaos, more progress. 5️⃣ Plan for lighter weeks. Athletes don’t train hard every day, and neither should we. Once a quarter, block a week with fewer meetings, more sleep, and no extra side projects. Building in rest makes you more resilient and keeps burnout at bay. 6️⃣ Move your body, clear your head. Doesn’t have to be fancy. A short workout, a run, yoga, anything that gets your heart rate up will help you reset and stay sharp. Exercise isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s a focus tool. 7️⃣ Short naps, big reset. Around that post-lunch slump, a 10–20 minute nap can seriously recharge you, no grogginess, just a clean mental reboot. Set a timer, close your eyes, and treat it like hitting refresh. 8️⃣ Group your tasks by vibe. Instead of switching between totally different things all day, chunk your time into themes, meetings, deep work, admin, etc. Then batch similar tasks together. Your brain stays in one lane longer, which helps with momentum. Start small, try one of these this week. You don’t need to slow down your ambition to feel more in control.

March 15th of 2016, I was woken up at 4 am by an intense pain in my stomach. Attempting to start my day, I found myself staggering downstairs, only to be overwhelmed by nausea. It was a wake-up call, signaling that something was seriously wrong. This episode led me to a diagnosis that many hard driving professionals are familiar with: chronic stress and burnout, the silent toll of juggling multiple roles. At the time, I was navigating between 3. 5 roles 1) being the Director of Business Development at a technology company 2) being an Executive MBA student at USC Marshall 3) being a new father 3. 5) enduring a grueling three-hour daily commute from Pasadena to Santa Monica daily This pivotal moment marked the beginning of my deep dive into mindfulness. Until then I have studied various philosophy but never practiced. It’s a journey that transformed not just my personal well-being but also my professional performance. Through studying of classics like “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind,” immersing myself in multiple meditation retreats, absorbing countless content, and meeting with PhDs, I crafted a suite of mindfulness practices that became my cornerstone for not only managing stress but the source of high performance achievement - hit 120% of my sales goal that year 🛠️It’s became a secret weapon. A very useful tool. Here are some practical steps I've integrated into my life, which I believe can profoundly impact anyone's professional journey: 🧠Mindfulness Practices for High Performance Establish a Daily Practice: Each morning, I dedicate time for box breathing exercise (adopted by Navy Seals) This simple act of returning my focus to my breath whenever my mind wanders has sharpened my focus, improved my emotional regulation, and cultivated a powerful presence in all aspects of my life. Mindful Moments: Wove mindfulness into the fabric of my daily activities. I have blocked off time on my calendar in between back to back meetings. These brief moments for mindful activities between tasks have become a forcing function to reset and recenter. They enhance my engagement and efficiency with each task at hand. Mindful Listening: In every meeting and conversation, I practice fully focusing on the speaker, absorbing not just their words but also their non-verbal cues, without crafting my response in my head. This approach has not only deepened relationships but also ensured that I fully comprehend the nuances of each interaction V体育官网. My journey underscores that peak performance transcends technical prowess; it's equally about nurturing mental resilience, embracing mindfulness, and fostering a profound connection with our personal value. In the high-stakes realms of management and revenue functions, where success is often quantified by outcomes, goals, and quotas, mindful approach offers a sustainable and fulfilling path to what we do. Helpful material in comment 👇🏼 #selfdevelopment #mentalhealth #mentalperformance #leadership.

As a manager or aspiring leader, you’ve likely felt the tug-of-war between work and personal life. It’s a challenge that doesn’t come with a one-size-fits-all solution, but it’s one that demands intentionality and self-awareness V体育安卓版. Let me share a bit of my journey and some strategies that have helped me navigate this delicate balance. The Trap of Autopilot There was a time when my work calendar dictated my life. I’d say “yes” to every request, every meeting, and every task without pausing to ask: “Is this the most important thing right now. Can I delegate this. Do I even need to do this at all. ” This autopilot mode led to burnout. I realized that balancing work and life isn’t about splitting time equally; it’s about prioritizing what matters most in each season of life. The Power of Alignment One of the most transformative tools I’ve adopted is color-coding my calendar. It’s a simple yet powerful way to visualize how I’m spending my time. Here’s how it works: At a glance, I can see if I’m in alignment with my priorities. Defining Success Success looks different for everyone, but for me, it’s about ease and impact. - In my career: Success isn’t just about climbing the ladder; it’s about creating flow and space. It’s about helping my team have “ah-ha” moments and seeing things from new perspectives. - In my personal life: Success is about creativity, self-care, and meaningful relationships. It’s about traveling and spending time with loved ones without worrying about missing something at work. Morning Rituals for Grounding I’ve learned that how I start my day sets the tone for everything that follows. My morning routine includes: - Journaling: To clear my mind and set intentions. - Meditation: To center myself and cultivate calm. - Movement: Whether it’s yoga, a walk, or a quick workout, moving my body energizes me. These practices help me stay grounded and focused, even on the busiest days. The Art of Brain Dumping I’ll admit, I haven’t found the perfect system for staying organized. It’s a mix of paper, online tools, and memory. But one practice that has been a game-changer is **brain dumping. Every few days, I take 10 minutes to jot down everything on my mind—tasks, ideas, worries, you name it. It’s a way to declutter my thoughts and ensure I’m not forgetting anything important. A Call to Action If you’re feeling overwhelmed or out of alignment, I encourage you to take a step back and ask yourself: - What does success look like for me right now. - Am I prioritizing what truly matters. - What’s one small change I can make today to create more balance. Remember, work-life balance isn’t a destination; it’s a journey. It’s about making intentional choices and being kind to yourself along the way. What’s one strategy you use to balance work and life. Share your thoughts in the comments—I’d love to hear from you.

The number one reason top sales reps burn out isn't quota pressure. It's because they work incredibly hard at their job but completely neglect working hard on themselves. Here's what I discovered managing a $195M sales organization: The reps who lasted and thrived weren't the ones grinding 12-hour days in their CRM. They were the ones who built systematic approaches to their entire life. Sales is a game of habits, not just hustle VSports最新版本. When you only focus on quota, you're building a house on sand. When you work on yourself systematically, everything improves. The top performers I mentored used what I call the four-part productivity system: #1 The PACER Calendar Method. They color-coded their calendars into five buckets: Personal (purple), Admin/Action (red), Creation (deep work), Enrichment (learning), and Recovery (yellow). This prevented them from being reactive to whatever hit their inbox. #2 12-Week Planning. Instead of annual goals, they broke everything into 12-week sprints with clear micro-steps. They knew exactly what to focus on each week to hit their biggest goals. #3 Daily Win System. Every night, they spent 5 minutes journaling three wins, decisions made, and lessons learned. This prevented the "what did I even accomplish. " spiral that kills motivation. #4 Weekly Reset Protocol. Every Friday, they did a 30-60 minute review of energy vs. time, cleared their workspace, and planned the next week intentionally. When they did these, they showed up with more energy, clearer thinking, and better resilience. Your prospects can feel the difference between someone operating from burnout versus someone operating from a place of systematic strength. Stop treating personal development like it's separate from sales performance. When you become a better version of yourself systematically, everyone benefits. Your family, your team, your prospects, your bank account. — Want to build an ELITE routine and mindset. Watch this: https://lnkd. in/gbpFye_t.

As high-achievers, we often push ourselves relentlessly. However, burnout is real and can sabotage our productivity and well-being. That's why I've made it non-negotiable to take time for myself each day to recharge. For me, this means closing the laptop, putting my phone away, and doing something solely for myself—whether it's working out in my garage gym, taking a walk, or learning a new skill. This personal time allows me to reset and return to work feeling refreshed and focused. Setting communication boundaries is also crucial VSports注册入口. You don't have to respond to emails, DMs, or texts the second someone else decides to send them. While it may feel uncomfortable at first, establishing these guardrails is vital for sustainable success. I encourage you to examine your own boundaries: • Where can you start saying "no" to work demands during personal time. • How can you be more intentional about unplugging. Don't let the grind consume you. Prioritize your mental health, and you'll be amazed at how it boosts your overall performance. How do you recharge and reset. ------------------------ Hi, I'm Michelle. I'm a former fighter pilot turned speaker, author, and coach. If you found this helpful, consider reposting ♻️ and follow me for more content like this.

Do you feel unmotivated to take action of any kind. Do you no longer find joy in hobbies or spending time with loved ones. These could be symptoms of burnout, indicating you may be overworking and feeling mentally and physically drained. According to research by Deloitte: 77% of professionals experience burnout in their current jobs. As alarming as this statistic is, the real issue lies in the fact that many of us don't even recognize the signs until it's far too late. Throughout my career, I can recall several instances where in hindsight I experienced burnout. While from the outside I was succeeding in my career, on the inside I was struggling with my mindset, feelings and relationships. I was fortunate to have a strong support network (both professional and personal) that supported me through these struggles. This personal experience made me realize the importance of normalizing speaking about this topic and educating myself and others on prevention and management strategies. To get some practical insights and tips on this topic, I reached out to my friend Dora Vanourek VSports在线直播. Dora is a Burnout Coach for Tech Professionals, a LinkedIn Top Voice on Resiliency, and a Senior Consulting Services leader at IBM. Here are 5 invaluable tips she shared on preventing and managing burnout: 1. Recognize Early Signs of Burnout: Burnout does not happen overnight - instead, it slowly creeps in. Watch out for early signs such as exhaustion, emotional overwhelm, disrupted sleep, changes in eating habits, disconnect from social life, reduced motivation and self-care, physical ailments, and reduced performance. 2. Understand and Address Root Causes: Long hours might seem to cause burnout, but they're often just a symptom of deeper issues. Common root causes include feeling undervalued, working in a toxic team environment, lack of autonomy in how you work, perceived unfairness, and a mismatch between job requirements and your values. Addressing these core issues is essential. 3. Engage in Activities: Find an activity that energizes you and helps you disconnect from your work. Aim for at least 15 minutes on most days. Anything you enjoy will be beneficial: walk, exercise, creative hobbies, dancing to favorite songs, gardening, meditation, etc. 4. Incorporate Meaningful Tasks in Your Work: All jobs have less enjoyable tasks. Research shows that you are less likely to burn out if at least 20% of your work is meaningful. An example is mentoring or coaching someone, developing new ideas or developing a training course for others. Everyone finds meaning in different tasks - reflect and find yours. 5. Ask for help: You are never alone. Reach out to a friend or professional. Your company might have employee assistance programs, or point you to available help in your country. Looking for additional insights on the topic. Follow Dora here on LinkedIn. She posts daily on the topics of  burnout, careers, mindset, coaching, and leadership. .

Annnd we're back! I spent the last 30 days traveling with family and took an intentional break from writing. Here are 5 breakthrough lessons on how to blend work + life from my trip: 1. Break your work into components. Too many people worry about their work-life "balance" when they should be focused on a work-life "blend". For me, this means not trying to run away from "work" and rather focus on chunking it down into its various components so I can create flexibility in HOW I work. 80% of the work that bogs me down are the video calls: pitches, investor updates, 1:1's, sales calls, etc. Cutting those out left critical "deep work" that could be nurtured - vision exercises, product roadmapping, hiring definitions, intention setting - all while traveling and not available during "typical" hours. 2. Leverage downtime to create breakthroughs. Take a step back to take a LEAP FORWARD. As a founder, your biggest gains will come from exponential breakthroughs. Those moments are fostered when you are in the right mindset. Stepping outside leads to breaking up your pattern of thinking and allows for more creative discourse. This goes back to point #1. When you blend work and life....you take the restful and joyous moments of life to fuel the creative problem solving needed for work. A lot of my inspiration comes from listening to audiobooks while running or cycling. Right now, I'm loving Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday. Give it a listen! 3. You have to feed your support system. As a leader/founder/CEO - you are only as good as your team. Depending on your work style, you're probably in the weeds a lot. When you step out, it gives them an opportunity to take control and implement things the way they would like to without constant over site. It pressure tests them in some ways and hopefully it excites in other ways. You also begin to see the facets of your work that you can let go and what the team really needs you for. People want to be led and taking the time to foster motivation and alignment is more important the perfecting a few pixels. 4. Slow down to speed up. Having more time away from our product, I could see that we were doing a lot. More features, more integrations, more stuff - but how much of it is actually being used by a high % of customers? It may me reconsider how we could more narrowly focus our mission on our core functionality. I asked myself - how can we do more with less? I don't want a more employees - I want a more efficient team that gets more out of what it builds. 5. Have fun. Life is short...find a way to love what you do and do what you love. I'm a big believer in sacrificing in the short-term for long-term gain, but I also have found that you can still enjoy and appreciate that "sacrifice". Training for an marathon for example means a lot of sacrifice, but I still find myself loving the process. Your work should feel like that - requires a lot of discipline, but it's something you actually enjoy. ✌️

Work will take all the time you give to it. This thought came up today in the classroom I was teaching, and it made me reflect on the times I’ve let work steal time from other things that truly matter. I once told my husband, 'I just need 20 minutes to respond to a few work emails, and then we can watch the movie.' Famous last words. Two and a half hours later, I walked into the living room… only to find him asleep on the couch, with a note next to him that read, 'You meant 200 minutes?' That was a pretty clear sign that work had taken more than its fair share of time that night. Since then, I’ve learned a few tricks to keep work from creeping into every corner of my day. Here are three tips that have helped me (and saved my evenings!): (1) Set clear boundaries: It’s easy to get sucked into work and lose track of time. Now, I set specific work hours and stick to them. They vary by day, depending on what is on the agenda. The laptop gets closed at a set time, and the phone stays close to it, out of sight. If something urgent comes up… well, it can wait until tomorrow. (2) Prioritize what's really important: I used to think every email and task was top priority, and I’d reply within hours. Now, I focus on the three most important things each day. If it’s not on that list, it doesn’t get my immediate attention. (3) Practice saying no: I used to say yes to most things—meetings, projects, you name it—thinking I could squeeze it all in. But it turned out I was squeezing out time for other parts of my life I cared about. Learning to say no (politely) has freed up my time for things I enjoy, like movie nights. It’s easy to let work take over, especially when we love what we do. But with some boundaries, we can reclaim our time… and make space for the people and moments that matter most. #timeManagement #time #work #life #relationships #planningFallacy #leadership #boundaries

How to rebrand yourself. In the last 12 months I’ve… ‣ Moved from Los Angeles to Austin ‣ Quit my full-time job & went all-in on my biz ‣ Got engaged to my beautiful fiancé ‣ Built a brand new community of likeminded people ‣ Mental, physical and spiritual alignment This was only possible because I got clear on my life vision, I created and committed a plan and I blocked out any + all distractions. Here’s how you can do the same… Complete a Personal Audit Be ruthlessly honest with yourself... • What toxic habits or routines need to be eliminated? • Who is stealing your time and energy? • What mindsets or beliefs are holding you back? • How is your current lifestyle not aligned with the life you want? • How much time, energy, and money are you leaving on the table by living like this This will create clarity on what changes need to be made. Map Out Your Dream Life Best case scenario, what would your life look and feel like? Identify priorities in both your personal and professional life: ‣ Personal • Health and wellness • Relationships • Personal growth • Self-care • Life experiences • Hobbies ‣ Professional • Career goals • Work-life balance • Professional development This will help identify what matters most to you. Create a Custom Calendar Outline your dream day and start to make it your reality... If it’s a priority, systemize and schedule it into your calendar to create accountability. • What time of day will you do "x"? • How many days of the week will you prioritize "x"? • What day of the month will do you "x"? This will eliminate any overwhelm of trying to figure out when to do what. Build a Boundaries Playbook This will be a set of rules to live by that will keep you on track of your goals... • What is your hard "start" and "stop" working time? • What days of the week are reserved for personal time? • How many cheat meals do you want to allow for yourself? • What happens if you miss a workout? • How many vacations do you want to allow per year? • What time of day are you not allowed to scroll on social media? This will help you eliminate distractions with ease. Always a Work In Progress This isn’t a one-time exercise; it’s a lifetime commitment... Change doesn’t happen overnight. Focus on making 1% progress per day. When your priorities change, so will your lifestyle. There’s plenty of time in the day as long as you schedule your priorities. Every time you say yes to something, you are saying no to everything else. Be intentional with every moment. These mindsets will help create sustainable consistency, thus breeding results.

Too many sellers plan their year backwards. They start with quota, then squeeze life into whatever's left. I did it differently in 2019—my biggest earning year ever. Started with what mattered to me as a human: • 2,000 miles on the bike • 7+ hours of sleep every night • Family trips across the country Then let work fill the gaps. Result? $1.22M in commissions. The paradox: When you prioritize being human first, you perform better professionally. Your creativity flows. Your battery stays full. Your deals progress smoother. Most sellers are "time blind"—they let the year happen to them instead of designing it. Purposeful Performers do something radically different: They build their personal calendar FIRST. Fill it with memory-making moments. Then use the remaining blocks for only high-value work. It's a natural filter against low-value busy work and time-wasters. Inside this lesson, I show you: → The exact 3-step system to design your best year ever → Why physical calendars beat digital (and which one I use) → The "Misogi" concept that defines breakthrough years → How to create 6 mini-adventures that transform your life → The color-coding system that keeps boundaries sacred This isn't about work-life balance. It's about designing a life where peak performance happens naturally. Ready to plan your best year by putting yourself first? The full blueprint is inside: https://lnkd.in/eeTxgBUp 🐝 P.S. My wife and I paid off our house that same year. Not in spite of prioritizing life first—because of it. When your human battery is full, everything else falls into place.