Work-Life Balance: April 2007 Archives

Here is an excerpt from Thomas Leonard's article Top Ten Ways to Simplify Your Life. It may seem shocking to the "people pleasers" among us (and I count myself in that group), but boy is it refreshing!

Wean away consuming people!

Part of simplifying is to simplify your personal Rolodex. I've found that it works to identify the 10 most important people in my life and focus on them instead of trying to juggle my very large Rolodex.

The first to 'go' were the people who were perhaps very nice and helpful but who needed me more than I wanted to be needed. Sometimes it's tricky to identify them because they are often very, very special in many ways, but if you're drained after spending time with them, and you can't fix the problem, it's probably time to wean them away. There ARE terrific people you'll be meeting who won't drain you. It's that important.

When Thomas wrote "it's that important", I can't imagine he knew how prescient those words would turn out to be. Thomas J. Leonard died an untimly death four years ago at the age of 47. He was my teacher and mentor, and I still dip into his writing regularly to be reminded of his uncommon wisdom.

Click here to read the entire Top Ten Ways to Simplify Your Life article.