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Happy Workaholics Need Boundaries, Not Balance

Harvard Business Review

Years ago my colleague Michael Gilbert suggested that we substitute “boundaries” for “balance”: while balance requires an unsteady equilibrium among the various demands on our time and energy, boundaries offer a sustainable means of keeping things in their proper place. Here’s one way to think about protecting yourself.

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You Need a Community, Not a Network

Harvard Business Review

A big goal requires a “thick we” network — a community of people who feel responsible for collaborating toward a shared purpose that they see as superseding their individual needs. At Best Buy in the early 2000s, Julie Gilbert was in charge of an internal network aimed at developing female leaders.

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The Art of Letting Go

Harvard Business Review

For most of my life, I prided myself on relentless perseverance in the face of obstacles, and a refusal to give up on any goal or client I was pursuing. At the most practical level, pushing continuously against resistance burns down our available reservoir of energy, and makes us less capable of doing anything well.

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Why Can’t We Stop Working?

Harvard Business Review

Bursting with nervous energy, he told me about his business travails — work so busy he was staying regularly until 10 at night, and a billionaire client sapping his energy and causing him grief. The handsome, dapper professional I knew had gained 30 pounds and started smoking. That’s great!” The arc of family life is different.

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How to Revive a Tired Network

Harvard Business Review

On a scale of one to five, how important is having a good network to your ability to accomplish your goals? But just because you know that a network is important to your success, it doesn’t mean you are devoting sufficient time and energy to making it useful and strong. In fact, few of us do.

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