One of my 5 core beliefs is “there’s never a good reason to settle.” The thing is, unless and until we objectively evaluate ourselves, we may simply be unaware we are, in fact, settling in one area of our life or another. Peter Drucker, a management consultant, educator, and author believed what’s measured can be improved. I’d also say what’s measured can be discovered. Taking the time to evaluate is critical to break us out of the day-to-day of life, the wash-rinse-repeat we can all fall into from time to time. Are you interested in measuring whether you’re settling? If so, read on.
As a peak performance, flow, and leadership coach for lawyers, oftentimes my clients come to me to improve their work life and performance. That’s great and I love to do it. Here’s the thing, though: We are not characters in the Apple+ science fiction show Severance. Those character have an artificially induced separation between life outside of their work and life inside.
I believe we are all just people who have business hours. That means if you’re settling for less-than in any of the nine areas of life I have clients evaluate, then you are not achieving your full potential.
What does that mean?
It means if you are falling short of your full potential in one area of your life, your “wheel” is out of true. Think of driving down the freeway with a wobbly tire that’s not round but some other shape. Do you have that picture? Not pretty, is it? Can you see catastrophe just waiting around the next bend in the road? I sure can.
If you are settling in one area of your life, it is simply impossible to achieve your full potential. If that area is outside of your business hours, it inevitably leaks into your professional performance.
We are just one person; there is no severance between our work-selves and our non-work-selves.
Here are the nine areas of the wheel I have my clients evaluate when they begin to work with me:
Family/Parenting
Personal Development
Career/Profession
Spiritual Awareness
Personal Finance
Fun & Enjoyment
Health/Aging
Intimate Relationships
Social Relationships
Take the time to evaluate yourself on a scale of 1 - 10, with 10 being absolutely perfect and 1 being a dumpster fire. Be brutally honest.
How many 4s do you have? How about 5s? 6s?
I once spoke with an attorney and we did this exercise together. He landed on 5/10 in a few areas. When I asked him what that meant, he initially said that was good! I let that sit (sometimes silence is a coach’s best tool). After thirty seconds or so, he looked at me with shock in his eyes; “I guess what a 5 really means is it doesn’t suck.” I asked him if he’d become a lawyer to have a life that “doesn’t suck”? His answer shouldn’t come as a surprise. After some nervous laugher, he exclaimed “NO!”
Don’t settle.
Of course, sometimes we get to focus our energy on certain areas of our lives at the expense of others (this is why work-life balance is a myth in the short term). That’s fine. The key is to not forget to go back and address those 4s, 5s, or 6s, though. If you don’t do that, you’ll fall short of your full potential as a human being.
Failing to reach your full potential in all areas of your life is a recipe for regret.