The Importance of Prioritizing Time as a Family - Part 2
 
Stephen Covey, EdD  
 
We struggle to balance our career responsibilities with the time our families need during the week, and on the weekend, too.
 
How to restore the boundaries and find balance between work and family?

 

The next 3 days, we'll look at a Three-step strategy for prioritizing our family time.

 

1. Schedule a block of time during which your family can meet, perhaps on a weekend. State your commitment to your family, and ask for feedback.
 
Note their answers. Here are some helpful questions:
 
  * What kinds of things do we want to do together?
 
  * What can I do for each one of you individually?
 
  * What types of things do we want to turn into weekly, monthly or yearly rituals? 
 
Review your notes, and start developing your overall family plan right after the meeting. This will become the basis of an evolving document that will be revised and fine-tuned as you spend more time with your family. 
 
Put some of your family plan into action immediately. Begin with simple things based on your family members' unique wishes, such as tucking a child into bed each night and telling a story or never reading the paper at the dinner table. Even such small actions will make a huge difference. 
 
Think of the family plan as a plane flight with yourself as the pilot. Before a plane takes off, the pilot has a flight plan and knows where he/she is going.
 
During the flight, wind, rain, turbulence and air traffic move the plane off course. But despite deviations, the plane arrives at its destination because the pilot has constant feedback from instruments, control towers and other planes.
 
The success of your family plan lies not in the deviations but in your vision, your plan and your ability to get feedback and move back on course.

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