The B side of life: do not simply survive, thrive.

A few years ago a friend gave me an excellent article written by George Hutchinson, in Executive Focus. The article addressed a theme - increasingly more relevant - that listed time, attitude and success and began by saying basically this: organized executives do not measure their success by the hours they spend working!

The profile of the incredibly successful executives reveals that they are quiet, very organized and they have as main objective to achieve a simple and very difficult concept: how to achieve more in less time. The success of their careers is measured primarily by the success of their personal lives.

Hutchinson offers several examples: Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney, refused to work late when he had an arrangement with his children; Lucy Fisher, vice president of Columbia TriStar Motion Pictures, worked four days a week and spent Friday with her family; John Malone, the telecommunications tycoon, worked five hours a day and ate lunch at home; Jill Barad, the energetic President of Matell, religiously watched her favorite television series in the company of her husband and children.

All these people have enormous responsibilities, but they make time for their family, leisure, hobbies and the personal satisfaction of their goals.

How do they achieve this? Contrary to what one might think, it is not because they had lots of assistants and secretaries, but because they use various techniques that simplify their lives and make their work more efficient.

The demands of today's world are becoming larger and more pressing: computer problems, trips, issues with employees, meetings, interruptions, deadlines, information overload - stacks of files, letters and emails. All this makes professionals suffer from a ruthless demand for their time. And this situation will only get worse. But we start to realize that there is a gradual tendency for people to invest in the B side of life - do more in less time, to have more free time.

Efficient management is becoming - for a growing quota of professionals - a priority to improve job performance and, consequently, the quality of personal life.

Many executives thrived in their careers - and improved their lives – by learning to delegate decisions, improve interpersonal relationships, deal with the habit of postponing things and overwork (workaholism) - among other challenges.

There are several techniques to help professionals achieve their goals, but the key word is organization. Many people are unhappy in their work, but few make the connection between part of their unhappiness and clutter - it can become unbearable to the best of jobs and it is relatively easy to fix.

Executives and successful people manage their lives, instead of being controlled by their lives!

Nowadays success is the time spent doing what you want, what you wish to do!