"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them-work, family, health, friends, and spirit-and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls-family, health, friends, and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life." Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises from 1959-1994

What are the biggest challenges for maintaining a more balanced work/life balance? Travel, competing demands at work and home, your expectations? Or could it be because you can do it all?

Your thinking may be that you can make it work and check voice messages or email at any hour of the day...whether at home or on vacation. Because you can get by with not eating right, not exercising, or not sleeping enough. Possibly, most of us believe we cannot be canned (fired) from home, not exercising or eating right, or spending enough time with God but we can sure be canned from not putting enough emphasis on work.

Most of the people I work with are struggling in this area. Most are also very astute successful business executives who use metrics to measure whether they are in the 'black' or the "red'. If you find yourself identifying with this, consider using metrics. Let me explain.

If work/life balance makes sense, companies could try an iniative where they track work/life balance with individuals, their team's productivity and correlate that with the bottom line results. I dare you to mention the idea. Better yet, use this same metric at home. Check the correlation between morale at home and your productivity at work. I double dare you to mention this idea to your family.  Oh heck, I triple dare you.

Good leaders drive for success with their heads down; great leaders (Good to Great) pull their heads up (you thought I was going to say out of your...shame on you). These great leaders evaluate where they are, and drive their personal lives, as well as businesses, more efficiently.

"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you." Carl Sanburg