
Have you ever forgotten a scheduled work call or meeting that was in your calendar ?
When I ask clients and friends this question very few people say yes. That is because we are hard wired to bring a level of professional rigour to our work place diary. We know where we need to be, what we need to do, we get multiple reminders on our desk top and phones and we execute!
I believe in taking a holistic view when striving to create and sustain high performance. If you are neglecting your physical health, have a strained relationship with your partner or children, are disconnected from friends and have no time for hobbies then it is impossible to optimise professional performance.
Conversely when we have harmony in these critical personal areas of life we feel energised, we have more resilience and capacity to lead with impact, to navigate challenges and perform in our professional role.
It therefore should be a high priority for all of us to explore how we can develop work life integration as a key building block of high performance.
My research shows that very few people apply the same rigour to the scheduling of their work outs, date nights, presence with children or friends, pursuit of hobbies as they do with professional commitments.
They end up trying to squeeze these things in around work. As a consequence they either don’t happen at all, or if they do the desired results are compromised because of fatigue and a half hearted commitment to their execution.

Since the start of this year I have challenged my clients with the following:
1) Imagine you have a jigsaw puzzle. It is called ‘Optimum Professional Performance 2023
2) What pieces need to be in that puzzle for you? Ensure you look across all aspects of life and work. Include date nights, quality time with children, friends, family, pursuit of hobbies, growth and development etc. Map out the pieces and physically write them down.
3) Review your calendar and ask yourself further questions:
How many of my jigsaw pieces are represented? I imagine you will see a well populated set of work commitments but with little other of your key jigsaw pieces.
Why does it look like this? Am I giving attention to the things that really matter, am I proactively creating the structure I want or just living reactively meeting external expectations on my time?
4) Rebuild. Take your jigsaw pieces and slot them into the calendar. As previously articulated, what you place in your calendar gets done. We now want to apply the same rigour to all aspects of your life.
If you schedule workout time, date night, quality time with children and a ‘power hour’ that is solely for your growth and development then these things are far more likely to happen.

In addition they happen on your terms and not squeezed in somewhere, so you will step into them with energy and presence which will massively increase the quality of the results you achieve.
The ultimate test here is - are you brave enough to not only schedule but to set each jigsaw piece as a recurring appointment for the rest of the year?
It is easy to have discipline and create a plan in January. However we all know that life will then get in the way. Our commitment will drift and we fall back into trying to reactively squeeze things in.
You have never missed a professional commitment! What is in the diary gets done. Why not see what happens when all of your jigsaw pieces are in place and in the calendar?
I appreciate some of you will be in a cold sweat and will not be comfortable scheduling date night, workout time etc in what you have always perceived as your professional calendar.
Do not forget that this is about holistic high performance. Yes, you will reap the rewards of better health, deeper levels of connections in your relationships. However you will also have enhanced mental health and energy that transcends in you becoming a better leader and performer in your professional role. The ultimate win-win!
You have to give yourself permission to take a more flexible attitude to how you structure your calendar and to slot all of your jigsaw pieces into your calendar and not just the work related ones.
This seemingly simple restructure and refocusing of how you use your time and schedule your jigsaw pieces has already yielded some powerful results with my clients
Comments