Do you know how many hours the average person spends at work during their lifetime? Let me enlighten you: over 90,000 hours. Yes, you read that right! Again, that’s for the average worker and doesn’t include those of us who work 50+ hours a week, including nights and weekends.
One of my favorite pillars of flow to talk about is the workflow pillar, and it’s because that’s where we spend most of our adult time. Being an advocate for work-life balance in the corporate space for the last decade has shaped and reshaped how I view this topic, and I want to put something on your radar. Now that you know how much time you spend working, I need you to answer this question for yourself and be honest:
Is your workflow set up to support you the way that you need it to be?
To help you answer this, let me share some perspectives and give you a few additional questions to consider. About two years ago, I was commuting four hours a day to a very well-paying but borderline toxic work environment. After having my personal and professional life unexpectedly collide, leaving me out of work for a few months, I found myself having to re-evaluate my priorities make and some decisions around what I really needed.
If you find yourself in the same boat, consider this:
- How does your career or money-making venture support you outside of a paycheck?
- Does what you do align with your values and is it fulfilling?
- Do you genuinely enjoy the people you work with?
When it comes to creating a flow in your work life, I need you to keep the same energy you have when it comes to staying at work late, working on weekends, and skipping lunch. Apply it to understand what is required in your workflow in order to create the capacity and balance needed to manage your life outside of work.
Recognizing your personal and professional needs is the key to setting your workflow up to support you.
Nicole Rhone is a wife and mother of two who knows firsthand how a lack of fluidity can create barriers for high-performing women in business, keeping them from reaching their next level. After experiencing high stress that led her to the hospital, Nicole knew she needed to make a change and create a life that prioritizes capacity. As the CEO of Flourishing, LLC., Nicole helps women increase their capacity for sustainable success by learning how to practice self-care, set boundaries, create a work-life balance, and create room for diversity to thrive.
For over a decade, she’s established herself as an HR Leader and Capacity Coach through her work with Fortune 500 companies by supporting thousands of employees globally through coaching, leadership training, and cultivating thriving company cultures. Nicole teaches you how to flow between competing priorities, and F.L.O.U.R.I.S.H. by focusing on these core values – Family, Leadership, Openness, Understanding, Respect, Integrity, Self-Care, and Humor.
As the five-star-rated, Flow and Flourish Podcast host, she helps women create space to live in alignment with themselves. The highly sought-after Capacity Coach has shared her mantra “when you flow effortlessly, you flourish tremendously” on NBC Today Show, ABC7 Chicago, the Redefining Wealth Community with Patrice Washington, Chicago Parent Magazine, and numerous podcasts to help women all over the world create balance between their personal and professional lives.