Confessions and Trendlines: Blips happen; watch for themes.

• Author: Burich, Woodrie
• Position: BALANCED BOUNDARIES

I've been teaching work boundaries for more than a decade. I know all the stats--and still I worked right through being sick.

It was day two of a cold. I had three major deadlines that week, and while it was relatively easy to reschedule my coaching calls and client luncheons, those deliverables wouldn't finish themselves. Sometimes there is no other day. Sometimes things can't be rescheduled. It's part of the gig.

Could I have slept and relaxed? Yes. Would a delay have negatively impacted the work outcomes? Yes.

Would it have impacted my and our company's reputation if I didn't get those out? Maybe.

So I dug deep and worked through my illness.

Here's the deal: there will always be times of hard work. There will always be times when more effort than we want to expend is required. Given my role as a coach in boundaries, it's easy for others to assume that I am always "balanced" or have perfect boundaries.

Being balanced and boundaried is not the same thing as saying no all the time, or even whenever I want to (needs and wants are not the same thing). It simply means being aligned and making a conscious choice--and being good with the outcome of that choice.

When my entire family is sick and my kid is throwing up--we are all just plain miserable--someone still needs to make dinner. Someone still needs to feed the dog. There are some things that still have to happen, regardless of how much I just want to sleep.

Blip or Theme

Here's the key: What's my trendline? Is this a momentary blip, or is it a continuous theme?

Blip--cool.

Theme--problem.

If this is a continuous or regular theme, that points to a bigger issue. Possibly the issue is a mindset issue. Possibly the issue is a workload/work structure or workflow issue. Repetitive or continuous themes point to a bigger problem or an underlying broken structure that needs to be resolved.

Blips? Well, that's just life.

It reminds me of a conversation during a group coaching call with some execs from a fast-paced tech company. I asked a woman during the call what helped her when she felt overwhelmed--what tool did she have to support herself when the workload was unmanageable. She paused, looked sheepishly at the camera and all the faces on our Zoom call, and responded with, "Well... I don't think you really want to know this, maybe I shouldn't even say it, but--well, I work a Saturday."

I think my response shocked her. It was, "Great! That's a wonderful tool." This was a coaching call on...