What’s Your Happiness Factor?

To celebrate 2013 and gear up for 2014, I took the advice I give to others and took some down time: six days of exercise classes, healthy eating and pampering at the spa. The experience I had over those precious six days put a lens on my own happiness factor. This experience truly aligned with some of my core values – mind, body and spirit – which help keep me balanced, focused and intentional in both my professional and personal life.

While at the spa, I noticed an obvious trend: I was not the only one there seeking some down time, as many others doing the same. I met a yoga instructor who shared with me that only a few years ago, yoga was seen as a touch-feely thing to do – kind of a cult – and now there are more yoga studios than there are Starbucks. This led me to an important observation that people want to connect more with self, to take better care of themselves, and to have a better work/life balance. Perhaps this is a good sign for all of us.

To achieve a greater level of happiness and fulfillment, it’s important to know what happiness means to you. But it’s hard to know what that is when we’re constantly running at a fast pace and not taking time to bring that to a conscious level. It’s like sleepwalking through life.

If I were to ask you today what “true” happiness looks like to you, what would you say? If you are living in a world that has those dimensions of happiness around you, would you recognize them? I always invite leaders whom I speak to and meet with to check in with themselves every six months or at least once a year to gauge their level of fulfillment and happiness with what they do. Are you satisfied with what you’re doing and how you’re living your life? What do you want more of, less of or different in your life to increase your happiness?

In 2014, our Executive Coaches at SHAMBAUGH have taken on the challenge to help leaders increase their happiness factor. Why? Happiness is directly linked to leadership excellence and performance! While today’s leaders need to be relentless in striving for and achieving business results, they also need to show up at work with a sense of balance, confidence, creativity and flexibility, and not let stress get the best of them.

As the old saying goes, “If not now, when? If not you, who?” Before you take the big plunge into 2014, take time to step back and invest in yourself. It’s not only important for you and your leadership, but for those around you too!

Learn more about SHAMBAUGH’s Executive Coaching, SHAMBAUGH’s signature Women In Leadership and Learning Program (WILL), Managing Gender Differences by visiting www.shambaughleadership.com.

Becky’s talk at TEDx: It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor