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Resources for Life Balance
The more you know about the issues and possible solutions to work/life balance, the better equipped you'll be to use a life balancing approach that fits. These pages list work/life balance resources known to me, including but not limited to my own.
*** Important Note ***
The programs listed here are provided for the reader's convenience. Those I specifically endorse or recommend are noted. Others are listed for your convenience in evaluating available resources.Books
Life
on Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life; Brad
Swift. Swift does
a masterful job of conveying the distinction between a life based on
doing
and a life based on being. In Life on Purpose, Swift brings together
the
concepts of the Law of Attraction and Purposeful Creation, blending
them
masterfully into his processes for creating and attracting life
purpose. His
writing style is relaxed and personal, with no trace of patronizing or
preaching. I recommend this book for its excellent approach to finding
life
purpose. When used in conjunction with The
Balanced
Life E-course, this book will be highly effective.
Authentic
Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential
for
Lasting Fulfillment; Martin Seligman, Ph.D.
Seligman is a giant in
the new positive psychology movement. I recommend this landmark book
for its
many brief and easy self-assessments that help the reader establish a
personal understanding of happiness. image and link
Excuse
Me, Your Life is Waiting: The Power of Positive Feelings;
Lynn
Grabhorn. A humorous, easily read, and powerfully direct description of
utilizing the Law of Attraction for personal success. This book, in its
near-twentieth printing, is a classic how-to for personal development.
Though
not primarily devoted to life balance, it's a classic I recommend for
anyone
intent on life change. image and link
The
4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich:
Timothy Ferriss. In The 4-Hour Workweek, Timothy Ferriss outlines how
to
succeed while self employed, working from home or beach, and working
part
time while earning full time income. Though much of the book is devoted
to
instruction for adventurous self employment, I recommend it for its
several
excellent tips for utilizing time effectively.
Average
to A+: Realising Strengths in Yourself and Others; Alex
Linley. Positive
psychology researcher and entrepreneur Alex Linley's latest book
provides
everything an individual or business enterprise needs to know to begin
harvesting the many benefits of individual and team strengths. Though
Seligman's Authentic Happiness introduces us to strengths, Linley
carries the
topic much, much deeper. As utilizing strengths is a key component of
life
balance, I recommend this book, which is an excellent complement to The Balanced Life E-course.
How to Practice the Art of Life Balance, a free e-book. I have not read this book.
Personal
Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth
on a
personal growth path. Pavlina develops
a set of seven core principles, with three key primary principles of
Truth, Love, and Power. From these he describes how to grow in several
areas of life using these principles as a strong foundation. A great
complement to my Balanced
Life E-course.
Coaching
The Your Balanced Life!TM program is run by Certified Professional Coactive Coach (CPCC) and Certified Human Resource Professional (CHRP), Jennifer Britton. A former international manager with the United Nations and other international organizations, Jennifer was accustomed to 80 - 120 hour work weeks, managing teams in up to 10 countries. When her health declined in 2003, Jennifer searched for support on life-work balance issues. Now an advocate for work-life balance, and a firm believer that people are an organization's most important asset, Jennifer runs the Your Balanced Life! program for busy professionals seeking better work-life balance.
Seven Steps to a Balanced Life, a coaching program by Stephanie Houseman.
A Balanced Life, Psychotherapy and Life Coaching by Catherine Freemire.
Rx for Balance, coaching by Hueina Su, a certified coach who specializes in balance coaching for female nurturers.
Employer Initiatives
Total Resource Management,Inc. (TRM), a consulting firm for the IT industry has several programs devoted to helping employees with work/life balance issues. TRM offers full-time employees 100% paid family coverage medical insurance, flex-time, and telecommuting. TRM's consultants travel 50% less than the industry standard due to on-client-site staffing, office locations near client concentrations, and remote access programs. TRM offers a bonus program, leadership training, and parallel career growth paths.
PricewatterhouseCoopers has a variety of HR policies and programs to support the work/life balance of working parents, especially mothers. About half their U.S. workforce is female and 17 percent of the firm's partners are women. An innovative program called Full Circle helps former employees who leave for child care or care of aging family to stay in touch for up to five years, with encouragement to return. Another program, Mentor Moms, pairs new mothers with employees who have children, providing mentoring for up to 20 weeks. PwC pays for emergency daycare when a business situation causes a parent childcare difficulties. Flex-time and additional flexible arrangements are available to high-performing employees.
Constangy, Brooks & Smith law firm receives Atlanta Journal Constitution award for work/life balance programs.
TELUS named to Connectmoms.com list of top 25 employers based on several employee benefits that support work/life balance.
Suggest your employer's HR department consider implementing some of these wellness and work-life balance programs.
Rally
Software
named as one of 30 "Best Places to Work in US." Employees are not hired
to fill rigid job roles, but rather are encouraged to develop as
individuals. They are also offered flexible hours and encouraged to
telecommute in order to maintain a strong work-life balance. Through
Rally's '1% Fund' program, employees are encouraged to spend 1% of
their paid time volunteering, which led to more than 2,500 volunteer
hours in 2008 across 90 non-profit organizations.
“We want Rally to
be a model for a better way of doing business, so our entire
organization lives by the Agile principles we teach,” said Tim Miller,
Rally CEO.
Intrepid
Travel
named "Best place to work in US" by Outside Magazine. With 20 years of
experience, Intrepid Travel is one of the world’s leading small group
adventure tour operators. Intrepid’s company perks include free travel
for all employees, free public transportation passes for the
Denver/Boulder area to encourage the environmentally-friendly use of
public transport, paid days off for volunteering, and a generous 4-week
paid time o
named "Best place to work in US" by Outside Magazine. With 20 years of
experience, Intrepid Travel is one of the world’s leading small group
adventure tour operators. Intrepid’s company perks include free travel
for all employees, free public transportation passes for the
Denver/Boulder area to encourage the environmentally-friendly use of
public transport, paid days off for volunteering, and a generous 4-week
paid time off policy. Intrepid also encourages socializing
with a
monthly pot-luck lunch, on-the-company Friday happy hour and a
bring-your-pet-to-work policy.
University of Arkansas earns Governor's work/life balance Gold Award .
List of mom-friendly Canadian companies.
Programs
Live a Balanced Life: Create a Life You Love audio program by author and psychotherapist Stephanie Marston.
Life Balance™ is personal coaching software by Llamagraphics. It claims to "help(s) you to decide what to work on, so that you can put your effort into the goals, projects and tasks that really matter to you." Life Balance appears to be a time management system and perhaps more. I have not tested it. There is a free 30 day trial version available for download.
JenniferJeffries.com professional speaker and work/life balance expert offers an on line mentoring program, $99 as priced on 12/5/08.
A Balanced Life with Beth and Susie, broadcast each Thursday, noon to 1 pm Pacific Time.
Springboard Consultancy: Springboard Women's Development Programme, an award winning course for women from a UK-based consultant company.
Craving Balance offers a $19 workbook of 8 exercises to help create life balance and focus on values. (Values or Principles in my terminology is one of the five fundamentals of a balanced life in my E-course.
Websites
30 Days to Sanity, by author and psychotherapist Stephanie Marston. Marston offers articles and a newsletter in addition to the audio program noted above. Marston has authored several books, including two "Chicken Soup" books for women
jobCogs.com is a job search website that promotes a healthy work/life balance for employers and job seekers through the use of quality of life search categories such as Flexible Hours, Friendly Bosses, Childcare Provided, Casual Clothing, Telecommuting and many more.
The Candadian Mental Health Association website offers a brief quiz you can take to identify the state of your work/life balance. No registration required. Combine this with my free Life Balance Worksheet (above right) for two perspectives on your balance in life.
The MindfulLiving Network is a webTV site offering live TV programming geared to "educate and enlighten you on how to improve your life by creating happiness, health and balance - through Mindful Living."
Clever calculator for scheduling weekly activities and balancing time.
Lengthy article discussing work/life balance, includes a form to check off the aspects of life most important to you.
European Network for Workplace Health Promotion includes recommended practices to improve work-life balance for employees.