Kath Lockett shares some of the inspiring stories from real blokes she interviewed for her book ‘Work/Life Balance for Dummies’. Forget the stereotype of the Australian male with a beer in one hand and his eyes glued to cricket on the TV. These men are as concerned about finding proper family time as any working woman. Their espereinces may help you see how to follow their examples.

Do we need to be jugglers rather than tightrope artists? ‘Juggling’ is an essential part of building a more balanced life, not an alternative. We all have to juggle demands; and balance is a dynamic process, not a static one that you ‘achieve’ once and for all. Manage yourself first, then turn to managing what proportion you can of the demands that fall on you.

To build the kind of lifestyle that allows you truly to live, work/life balance needs to be more than a buzzword. It needs to be a way of life. In the first of a series of items on how to de-stress yourself and manage demands in all areas of your life, Kath Lockett looks at two critical steps: learning to take pride in your imperfections and saying ‘No’ more often.

At last, some of the largest technology corporations in the world are recognizing that they have created a set of monsters that are already destroying billions of dollars worth of productivity every year — cellphones, e-mail, and instant messaging. Haven’t we been saying that all along?

How do you become truly more productive in times when you simply have too much to do? The answer lies in switching from managing how you spend your time time to managing where you direct your attention. If you have too much to do, do less — but make sure what you do is what counts for most. It’s that simple.

Life, like certain airlines, charges heavily for all the useless baggage you choose to drag around. Don’t carry all this heavy stuff into your future. Don’t waste your energy on past hurts and worries. Don’t let the past reach forward and pollute the future with its obsolete concerns. Don’t pay for carrying around feelings and beliefs that no longer have any worth to you. The cost in wear and tear on your mind, body and emotions is far too high; the likelihood that you’ll mess up, because you’re distracted by something over and gone, way too great.

Why do people choose to stay late at the workplace? Is it all as a result of coercion? If so, why do some people stay voluntarily? Is it out of ambition, fear, or a warped sense of duty — or boredom with life away from the workplace? Some thoughts on why overwork is often voluntary and what to do to break yourself of the habit of working longer than you have to.

Continual busyness and overwork amongst well-paid professionals today is more likely to be for purely social reasons than because it is essential. Many people work harder than they need to build up social standing and display their importance. In terms of becoming an “alpha” individual in the herd, is the equivalent of the dance of the Lyre Bird or the bellowing of the stag. That’s why, while there are plenty of folk who must work excessive hours, just to survive (if you think about it, a disgrace in a modern society), what we are seeing is the odd phenomenon of the rich working just as hard, purely to display their status — followed by the “wannabe” rich doing the same in imitation.

The constant busyness and pressure in today’s workplace feed a human need for stimulus and excitement. It’s easy to fall into the trap of basing your feelings of self-worth on easily observable factors like working long hours, accepting near-impossible demands, and “taking it” when others flag or complain. Speed, constant busyness, and pressure are genuinely addictive. They set off brain chemicals that make you feel alert and alive and give you a short-term high. In time, this becomes an addiction and you’ll need more of it to produce each new high. Is what you want for yourself and those who depend on you?

Reflections what it takes to build a more balanced life

The central principle of Slow Leadership — creating a civilized working environment — isn’t an easy task, especially in the present climate. It demands finding and holding a balance between legitimate business needs, career aspirations, social and family responsibilities, and leisure. And it isn’t being helped [...]