This past week I attended a Women's Network luncheon in which Lynn shepherd of The Swan Network presented the Circle of Wisdom.

Her speech was entitled "Yes You Can" and was a discussion with Kirsten Lino of First Merit Bank on how to obtain work/life balance - the seemingly illusive utopia all women strive for and fail to grasp.

She walked us through a circular process she has entitled the Circle of Wisdom - a process that you repeat again and again for each area of your life in which you desire balance.

I won't share her whole speech, but I'd encourage you to visit her at The Swan Network for more information. Here are the highlights:

AWARENESS: you must first start with an awareness of your life and begin to prioritize your tasks, projects, commitments and desires

ACCEPTANCE: now accept where you are. If you want to lose weight - hold up the mirror and say "okay this is where I am today. I'm not going to look back and shoulda/coulda/woulda myself into a world of guilt -let's just move on from here."

ACCOUNTABILITY: Take your priorities and your goals and put them on your schedule. Want to add exercise to your life? Schedule it. Want more time with your significant other? Schedule it. Want time for a bubble bath? Schedule it.

ACTION: You've identified the priorities, established where you are starting from, you've even put it on the calendar - now DO SOMETHING about it. You have to follow through. Start with small steps.

ACHIEVEMENT: Recognize and celebrate each goal, each step, each move in the right direction.

ACCESS AND ADJUST: Set a point in time to measure how you've done - are you moving the right direction at the rate of speed you'd planned? Is there something you can adjust or modify to move things along? Did you go down the entirely wrong path? Now is the time to evaluate and make changes. You may need to start over. Perhaps what you thought you needed to accomplish and measure was different than what you now need.

One quick tip for YOU. Lynn suggests getting up 15 minutes before anyone else. Fix a hot beverage, get out a pen and paper and write down 6 things that you want to do that day. Think through your obligations for the day. Take some me time - breath deep and meet the day with calm, focused determination. Much better than hitting the snooze button 8 times and then rushing into the shower, yelling at the kids to hurry cuz they'll miss their bus, skipping breakfast and racing to the office.

Thanks Lynn and Kirsten for a great presentation.

Deborah Chaddock Brown
Professional Writer, Work/Life Balance Challenged, but better prepared!
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