I’ve always been a hard-worker.  It is part of who I am.  Finding time and space for play has always been the bigger challenge in my life.  Being a martyr also comes easy to me and it’s a pattern I have to play close attention to – or I get myself into a lot of trouble – living in a land of resentment and victimhood.

As a new entrepreneur, it was really important to me to find more balance between work and play and to make my business be a reflection of who I wanted to be in the world and to be integrated into my life in a meaningful way.  It’s important to me to work hard and be successful professionally, to support and care for my family and my home, to support my own well being, to be part of a community, to learn and grow and to enjoy life.  I could have made this new venture be all about pushing and striving as I’ve always done, but I wanted to do things differently, so I made myself a plan so I could keep myself honest on this journey.

I made this shift by envisioning what I wanted my life to be (about 3 years ago) and I wrote it down.  I look at it about every 6 months to see how I’m doing and make shifts to my life where I’m not following my vision or make shifts to my vision when they no longer align with my life.  Having and checking in with a personal vision keeps me on my right path and it’s how I tap into a balanced life.

As parents, we are challenged EVERY DAY with how to find balance between work, family, personal goals and the list goes on.  Creating a vision for your life can help you to set your course to live a life with intention.  I love helping my clients to get really clear on what they’d like their lives to look like and what balance actually means to them.  Give it a go and let us know how it works for you!

Deborah Tyson is Boston-based Career Transition Coach.  Learn more at www.mobilizecoaching.com.