What are You Balancing? What are you Juggling?

Let’s be honest…whether you are self-employed, a person in transition, someone managing a household, an employee going to work with others, or all of the above…you are balancing and juggling all day long. It is a dance of shifting, twisting, and balancing. We make lists, write on sticky notes, cover white boards, and use online tools to help us organize and prioritize. Take a moment and think… How many balls am I juggling today?  What am I trying to balance today?

And then, take a big breath and ask…

1. What can I juggle today that will bring me energy?
2. What can I do to balance my performance and energy?

My friend Deanna Murphy introduced me to the concept of scoring one’s energy and performance for each of the tasks we balance in a day. It is an interesting exercise that helps us to see where we are performing, learning, and getting depleted. I have found that if I juggle my day through the lenses of performance and energy things come easier, faster, and even with more smiles!

A simple scoring of your tasks from 1-10 can lend new insight to what you are balancing well and where you are overwhelmed (or even underwhelmed).

Once you’ve scored your tasks, there are three steps. First, look at those tasks with high energy and high performance scores and ask…What strengths am I using that make these scores high?  Next, look at the areas where you have medium scores. How could you use  those strengths from the high performance and high energy areas to gain more momentum, productivity and energy?

Finally, look at those areas where you have low scores. It could be high performance but very low energy. Or super high energy but low performance.  Do you need to delegate? partner with someone? What can you shift to better balance your energy and performance?

Balancing your tasks from a place of energy and performance is a refreshing way to approach work. It gives new life to the to do list, the productivity online tool, and the white board covered with sticky notes.

Try making your list of things to do today from a place of energy and performance by asking yourself…

1. What is my high performance and high energy task today?
2. What is my low energy or low performance task today? How could I apply one of my strengths to gain energy and/or performance?
3. What is one task I want to shift to higher energy and performance by partnering with someone today?

Let me know what you find out? What is one thing you rebalanced towards higher energy and performance?