Often it is family life that loses the battle. But it doesn't have to be that way. However, it requires that we put as much effort into planning our private life as we do our work. Because while the vast majority of companies have a vision, lay out a strategy for how to achieve it and carefully consider how best to distribute resources, it is all too rare that we look at our private life and leisure time with the same seriousness.

When was the last time you sat down and considered what your vision or goal for YOUR life is? What strategy should you put in place to get there or how should you distribute your limited resources so that you are constantly moving in the direction you want?

If you do not focus on this, according to author and professor at Harvard University Clayton M. Christensen, you move far too easily to a completely different place. That is why, at the end of his teaching courses at Harvard, he asks his students to turn the management tools they have spent the last semester learning towards their own lives.

Find your vision

Christensen asks the students to consider what their goals really are. According to him, too many students leave Harvard with the idea that money, results and promotions are the main purpose of their career. Which he writes, all too often lead to unhappy lives. Therefore, he asks the students to consider Frederick Herzberg motivation theory, who emphasizes that it is not money that motivates. On the contrary, it is the opportunity to develop, learn from oneself, help others and receive recognition, which is what makes life worth living. And as a manager, you are in the best position to experience exactly this – and not least, to help others experience exactly the same.

So ask yourself: What motivates you? What is the purpose of your life? What can you do to make you happy and satisfied with your career? How can your career help you pursue your life's purpose? How do you ensure that your family life is filled with joy?

Christensen says that helping others is the fundamental meaning of his life, and it permeates all his actions and decisions.

Strategy and resource allocation

Once you've figured out what it is you want with your life, you need a strategy and a tactic to ensure you're actually moving in the right direction.
As it is true in relation to your business, it is also true in relation to your private life: "What is invested in, is done". And then it doesn't really matter what strategy has been put in place. If your company does not invest in things that advance the strategy, then it will never become a reality. The same goes for your life. If you want children with high self-esteem and self-confidence, this is something you, according to Clayton Christensen, must make part of your family's culture. Children build confidence by doing difficult things and learning what works.

So make sure you allocate your limited resources to activities that advance its purpose. Your vision. What are the things you need to spend energy on in order for your working life to be good? How much of your time should you e.g. spend with your partner and family and how do you best raise your children so that they become good people?

Be conscious of the direction you want your life to take

These are not easy questions that he asks his students to consider, but I think he is right that a conscious consideration of these issues helps us create a direction in our lives that in the long run makes us much happier than a successful sale or another promotion.

Perhaps clear choices and opt-outs in relation to both work, family and leisure can even help to keep the dreaded stress at bay?