I used to have a friend who kept an "idea drawer." Years and years worth of notes, mostly written on tiny pieces of paper, were crammed in this drawer. Most of them were ideas he would think of, but not have time to follow through on. Song lyrics for songs he was going to write (after he learned how to play the piano), story ideas for that killer movie script he was going to write someday, places he wanted to travel to (but only after retirement).

Now, there is nothing wrong with having a stash of good ideas. I'm always jotting down story ideas, snatches of conversations that would make a good dialogue in a novel someday, or lists of cool publications I want to write for. But the problem with good ideas is that they tend to come easily (once you get started in a creative mode), but they are difficult to actually make happen.

Many businesses have the exact same problem. They have cultivated creativity, have encouraged the generation of lots of great, ground-breaking ideas, but have failed at probably the most important step: implementation. A good idea isn't really worth much if it just sits in an "idea drawer."

Holly G. Green says that most companies confuse creativity with innovation.

"They do a great job of coming up with new ideas (creativity), but they stop there, thinking they have accomplished the goal," Green says. "In reality, all they have done is supply a part of the first ingredient in the recipe for successful innovation."

Creative generation of ideas and the implementation of those ideas are two related actions, but fundamentally different.

"In other words, creativity asks people to think differently," Green says. "Implementation asks them to act differently. Smart companies teach their people how to do both."

Do you agree that creativity and innovation are not the same thing? How do you go from idea generation to idea implementation?

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This is a guest post by Amy Dunbar. We are excited to have her sharing via Balance and Innovate! Be sure to share her post, and check out her blog (link in her bio below).

Beep-beep-beep! It’s six o’clock Sunday morning and my husband rolls out of bed and heads downstairs to get the paper. I brush the sleepy out of my sticky eyes and step my haven’t-been-manicured-in-months-toes into the shower. The goal is to shower, blow-dry and fix my hair, apply make-up, and get dressed prior to the clamor of waking children. While wrapping my hair in a towel, the smell of coffee beckons from downstairs and I smile.

After getting ready and getting the boys (ages one and two) out of bed, I make breakfast for the family while my hubbie heads upstairs for his turn in the shower. Then, when they are finished eating, I scrub away any remnants of breakfast jelly and syrup smeared on their tiny hands and faces and set out to get them dressed. This usually turns into a chase-me game as I try getting arms and legs in and buttons buttoned and zippers zipped.

About the time I get them dressed and get a cup of coffee poured, my hubbie appears in his Sunday best and we load up for church. Thankfully, our church is only five minutes away – I don’t know how people living thirty minutes or more away do it. After parking, and unloading, we roll into church, drop the kids off in children’s church and head to our Sunday school class.

And you are probably thinking, “Why go through all of that? What’s the point? Is it really worth the effort?”

Why?

I am a mom. And in addition to loving my children, my job includes teaching them. I teach them how to talk, how to walk, how to go potty, and how to spell their name. And I teach them about my faith.

I want my children to understand what I believe. I want them to know why I go to church. And I want them to have a faith of their own one day that is real and true and not some regurgitated version of mommy/daddy-faith.

I know . . . that’s a lot! And they are only one and two. So how do I get from here to there?

Simple answer: I live what I believe and let them experience it.

My hubbie and I take the time to go to church not because it is a good thing to do; rather, we go because we want to go. Through the experience of meeting with other believers, praying together corporately, and worshipping as a whole we are unified, encouraged, and challenged. But Sunday morning faith is hardly faith at all. I mean . . . just because we go to church, doesn’t mean we have faith.

Remember I said . . . I live what I believe and let them experience it.

That’s why I try to demonstrate a day-to-day, minute-by-minute, grace-filled faith. That’s a mouthful, so let me explain.

When I pray, I invite my children to pray with me. When I sing, I teach them the words. When I am sad, I let them see my tears. And when I rejoice, I teach them to dance. Holding their hands, they experience my faith with me.

Child psychologists assert that young children learn primarily through their senses. The more they see, touch, taste, hear, and smell, the more they will learn and understand. And the sensory experiences they gain today will help them learn abstract concepts in the future. Ann Douglas, author of The Mother of All Toddler Books, describes sensory play as any kind of play that stimulates a child's senses.

"Toddlers learn by doing," Douglas says. "They are drinking in information using every tool at their disposal, including their sense of taste, touch, and smell."

So I hold my children’s hands as I read stories and sing songs and live life . . . experience-to-experience. And I pray that one day their faith will be more than an experience – I pray that their faith empower them with strength and grace that lives and breathes through their lives.

I can’t control what they will or won’t believe.

I can’t choose their faith for them.

But I can live.

And I will pray.

What do you think? Do you live what you believe? How do you teach your children about your beliefs?

Amy Dunbar Dunbar is a freelance writer, communications consultant, and the creator of the blog 6:33 Woman. She has a BA in English from Crichton College and an MA in Journalism/Public Relations from the University of Memphis.

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Inner security comes from belief in our professional competence, loving relationships, active spiritual life, and supportive social network. Secure people aren’t wholly dependent on their career as their only source of self-esteem. They can handle the rejection of their ideas because their self-esteem is not dependent solely on how well they are regarded at work.

The development of loving relationships, spiritual life and a supportive social network requires time and energy on a sustained basis. It does not happen overnight or by accident. It requires allocating our time and energy to all the areas that are important to us.

And since we are all at different places in our life journey, what constitutes balance for one person may be completely different than balance for someone else.

The most important thing you can do is take the time and energy to find out what balance looks like to you personally, and then take active steps to make balanced life choices every day.

And remember... it's a journey. It's about taking one step at a time.

Read more about finding a balance between the four components of self: career, personal, actualization, and leisure.

Do you feel secure in your current life balance? Is there an area of your life that feels off-balance? How does that affect other areas of your life? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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This is a guest post by Amy Dunbar. We are excited to have her sharing via Balance and Innovate! Be sure to share her post, and check out her blog (link in her bio below).

When I was young – maybe three or four – I fell off a swing set face first into the concrete patio of our little three bedroom house. My whole face bruised and swelled in a grotesque fashion and took days to heal, but luckily I was okay. The only reason I know this story is because my mom told me about it. I have zero real memory of the event. Nada. Zilch. I don’t remember the fall, the pain … I don’t remember anything!

What do I remember from my childhood? Well, very little. Mom said we lived in a trailer home for a while, but I don’t remember that. Mom told me about some weird babysitters, whom I also don’t remember. And as wild as this may sound, I don’t have any memories of my childhood (prior to age four or five) that aren’t photo memories. You know – the memory etched in your mind from the pixels of an old photo accompanied by the constant retelling of a story. The story told so many times that it blurs the line between pixels and memory.

But there are still pictures that I know nothing about. Ones that scream of happiness and love – ones whose emotion jumps out from the pixels contained in the photo. And one of my favorites is a picture of my older sister and me rolling around outside in an old bed spread, laughing and carrying on. What were we laughing about? Who took our picture? Whose bed spread was it? Who knows? Maybe that fall off the swing set did something to my memory. Maybe it is normal to forget your childhood. Maybe …

As a mother in my mid-30’s, I have lots of friends with young children. And I have often heard them force a grin and say, “We are building memories.” As the stress rises in their mommy voice, they reassure themselves that the latest fireworks display, Christmas pageant, or whatever is worth the stress because it is “building memories.” Most moms – myself included – want to be perfect, to be super-mom. We buy and we do and we schedule and we plan . . . and we get lost in the stuff - the stress - all for the sake of memories.

So, now knowing how little I remember from my childhood, I think of my two boys (ages one and two). I wonder what they will or won’t remember. I remember vacations and parties, fun times of laughing and learning and wonder if they will remember. Sure, I have pictures which will likely be used to create photo memories one day, but I want more. I want them to remember the way I gave them love squeezes and sporty kisses. I want them to remember our dance parties and silly songs. I want them to remember!

But many psychologists suggest that the average age for first memories is three years and six months or somewhere between two and five years. What? So you’re telling me that everything I am doing with my children right now . . . they aren’t going to remember? They won’t remember their first birthday party that I went all out on or that trip to California? But then I go into my two-year-old’s bedroom to get him up this morning and he is singing his favorite song – Jesus Loves Me. He doesn’t know what the words mean, but he knows that I have sung it to him every night since he was a baby and he remembers. It’s more than the words of the song that he likes; it’s the association that the song has with me and the routine I have established by singing it to him. He knows he is loved – that he is special because I sing to him.

All the stuff and stress are forgotten behind the simplicity of a song. Remembering the song he remembers me. So for now – for today – he remembers. Whether or not he will remember twenty years from now isn’t the question. It’s what he remembers today. And today isn’t about the parties or events, the pictures or the video. Today isn’t about the Facebook updates or the to-do lists. Today is about today. Today is the day that we turned the den into a trampoline by pulling all the couch cushions on to the floor. Today is the day he put a 20-piece puzzle together all by himself. Today is the day that I sang to him at bedtime.

At this age every day is a making-memories-kind-of-day. Now the question I ask isn’t what they remember in the future, but what will they remember tomorrow. At the end of the day did my children feel loved and adored? Did all my planning – all my doing – communicate just how valued and special they are? Do they know that I enjoy them more than my job or anything else? Memories like these build self-confidence (according to people smarter than I am). And while memories like these can’t be captured with a camera, they last forever.

Remember . . . the memories of today that may be forgotten tomorrow are the foundation of self-confidence for the future, which is a lot more than can be contained in the pixels of an old photo.

Now – without thinking too much about this, answer below – what is the earliest childhood memory you have and how old were you?

Amy Dunbar Dunbar is a freelance writer, communications consultant, and the creator of the blog 6:33 Woman. She has a BA in English from Crichton College and an MA in Journalism/Public Relations from the University of Memphis.

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A few years ago, my wife and I saw a poster in the neighborhood ice cream store about a student play being staged at Houston High School in Collierville, Tennessee, which is the school our daughter Manisha graduated from. We watched the play following week.

The students did a great job and we were thoroughly entertained. Being at Houston High School and watching the kids perform in the building brought back so many great memories of attending the parent teacher meetings, talent shows and track meets when Manisha was a student there.

During the intermission, we reminisced about the joy of shared experiences in watching Manisha grow. After the play was over and we were walking to the parking lot, Shashi, my wife, turned to me and said, “Why don’t the kids stay at this age? Why do they have to grow so fast and leave home?”

Three years back, Manisha had graduated from Houston High and was attending North Carolina State University.

Making memories with your children creates "videos" in your mind that can be replayed over and over again. 

Do you take time to make lasting memories with your friends and family? What are some of your fondest memories? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Dr. Lurene Kelley, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of broadcast journalism at the University of Memphis, wife, and mom to two children. She is also on the Balance and Innovate advisory board. She took a moment from her busy life to share her thoughts on living a balanced life.

B&I: What does balanced life look like to you?

LK: To me, a balanced life means that you get to touch on every part on what makes a person whole: family, friends, spirituality, and then things for yourself.

B&I: Working parents often put themselves last on their to-do list. How do you make time for yourself?

LK: I treasure my New York Times on Sunday. I don’t dare get the daily edition, because there is no way I could read it. But I try to find little moments when I can read an article. Exercise, of course. When I did have more time, it wasn’t a priority for me, but now I feel the need to do it more, just for energy. Sleep is another important "me" thing. I'm pretty good about getting sleep, but sometimes I do deprive myself of sleep when I’m working late at night on projects, because it’s a great time to get stuff done. It’s quiet, I can focus. Going out with my husband. We go out and try to do some of the things we used to do, remember who we were before we had kids.

B&I: What is the biggest challenge about being a working parent?

LK: Right now, because I’m working on a lot of projects I’m really excited about, it’s challenging to not let work bleed into family time. I do have the kind of job that’s not a 9-to-5 job, and when I get really intense on projects, I have to stop myself from running to my computer all the time and sinking into what my husband calls “the abyss.” We have a code word right now, "family," and it means, "I need you right now!" I just have to make sure that it's not a constant, "I'll be there in a second. I just have to finish this up." I don't want my children to see me as constantly distracted.

B&I: What is the most rewarding aspect of being a working parent?

LK: I think it's really good for kids to see that their parents are involved in other things, and that life is not completely about them. I did stay home with my oldest for his entire first year, but with my daughter, it's been more blended. Particularly because I have a daughter, for her to see her mom as a professional, I think that's a really good thing for her to grow up with.

I grew up watching my mother work, but she was still there for me. I never remember feeling neglected, and she had to work at home sometimes. I've had to remind myself that it's a good thing for them to see that, just like it's good for them to see you cooking or doing other life things. You can't just sit on the floor and do their things all day long.

B&I: Madan talks a lot about the concept of CPAL - how our lives are a sum of individual parts. Career, personal, actualization (spiritual) and leisure. Do you tend to think of your life as separate components?

LK: Those are the four major things that make you feel as if you have a life. I do evaluate my life in those categories. It's good to see them in those categories. Most of the time you are at least touching on these things. In some areas, I have lowered my standards, for now anyways. At some point, maybe I'll be able to focus more on those areas. Certainly, family is the most important area.

B&I: How do you relax after a stressful day?

LK: Sitting down and reading the things that I've been wanting to read! That is super relaxing. We don't watch much TV, but sometimes we'll sit down and watch a show that we've been dying to watch. Chilling out and talking to my husband about things that are not logistics.

B&I: What is your definition of health and how has it evolved over the years?

LK: Before, I used to feel healthy if I was eating right, exercising and was a certain weight, but now I feel like being healthy is more abou

t what's going on in my head. If feel more tired, depressed, then I'm not able to do what I need to do to take care of myself. To me, health is about balance between your mind and your body. It's about being active, not eating terrible things all the time, staying hydrated.

B&I: Do you have any secrets or tips for making it work?

LK: What I’ve been trying to do is get two things to overlap. I've been trying to workout more and do things like biking with my dad. That way, I get one-on-one time with my dad and a workout. Or I'll go walking with my mom. It's not necessarily the most challenging walk, but I'm moving, we are together. We've been trying to do more family walks. Because I think it's great for the kids, even if everyone is not "working out," it's role modeling.

The day that works is when my husband and I both wake up with positive outlooks and in great moods about how our day is going to go. If we are excited about what we are doing and we are happy with the kids, then anything can happen. A bad day is when one of us is feeling sorry for ourselves. A lot of it is just your outlook.

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Laura Tennison writes about the glass ceiling and why women are less likely to be employed in high level executive jobs. She suggests that less women have top-level executive jobs because they are more dedicated to work-family balance, and are less likely than men to just drop everything for the job.

"... most women would prefer to work for a medium-sized company, or one that values a work-life balance, than for a male-dominated City institution or a FTSE 100 company that doesn't accept there's more to life than making money," Tennison says.

Tennison says she would rather grow her company slower than miss her child's school play, a choice, she argues, her male counterparts might just not make. 

What do you think? Are women held back from high level executive positions because they value work-life balance more than their male counterparts?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

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I’m reading a really great book right now called focus : a simplicity manifesto in the age of distraction, written by Leo Babuata. (Psst… it’s available as a free e-book here). I was drawn to his blog, Zen Habits, because, well, honestly, my life doesn’t always feel zen-like. In fact, my life is often the complete opposite of Zen.

For example, my “typical” week often includes: feeding, bathing, clothing, and wrangling my 1-year-old; juggling work for several writing/PR/editing/design clients; coordinating administration of a documentary film; attending rehearsals and classes for the dance company I’m with; working out; cooking/buying/eating healthy food; cleaning (ha!); did I mention wrangling my 1-year-old?; spending time with my partner; bathing/applying makeup/dressing myself; and occasionally, sleeping. And that doesn’t include other odd errands, paperwork, busywork, dog care duties, laundry, dishes, etc., etc. Any of you who are parents know how this goes.

So, with all of the above in mind, I started to read this book, all about simplifying, focusing and single-tasking. (Yep…single tasking… not multi-tasking). I was like, “Dude!! Are you kidding me? I can’t NOT multi-task!” Then, I just decided that this guy didn’t have kids and had no clue where I was coming from.

And then, he had to go and mention his SIX children a few pages later. Darnit!

He says that we live in an over-stimulated, distracted world, and until we find a way to limit the distractions and truly focus, we will never be able to accomplish our “Something Amazing.”

I decided to give some of his suggestions a try, and last Monday morning, set my alarm for 6 a.m. I went for a run, came back, made some coffee, sat down at my computer, and made a list of the three most important things I needed to accomplish that day. I then had about an hour of uninterrupted work time before my little one and my partner woke up. And amazingly, although the rest of the day went its normally crazy speed, juggling baby, work, working out, errands, I had a surprising level of calmness. I felt like I had started the day off with a reserve of calm. And the list, with those three important things, was so relieving. Because at the end of the day, I had accomplished every item on that list. I hadn’t accomplished all the things on my master, billion item to-do list, but I had accomplished the three most important things on my list.

I wish I could say that my life was perfect from that point on. But, of course, it wasn’t. I have good and bad days. Babauta cautions us against feeling like it’s a fix-all solution. Life happens. He said you might wake up early, go for a run, and sit down at your computer to start work, and your bathroom pipe might burst. Total curveball. And he’s right. But I will say that just these few simple changes made a significant impact on my stress level.

Here are the steps I used to apply the concepts in this book:

Step 1: Identify what is stressing you out. Be specific. Pick just one thing to make a change. (For me, it was feeling like I started my day already running behind).
Step 2: Identify what needs to change, and make it actionable. Make it simple. (I needed more time at the beginning of the day. And I needed to focus on what was essential).
Step 3: Try it out. Really stick with it, even just for a week, so you can realistically evaluate its effectiveness. (I did NOT like getting out of bed those first few mornings. But I made myself do it. And eventually, it got easier, which led to step 4).
Step 4: Make it a habit. (Now, I don't even think twice about waking up early. In fact, when I do sleep a little later on the weekends, it feels strange. I actually look forward to Monday morning, when I can start my early morning routine again).

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We are all on this crazy, beautiful, and challenging journey called "life." But it's not really just one journey... it's more like several simultaneous journeys.

We each have multiple roles: parent, employee, partner, friend. Each of our individual roles requires time, energy, and a different set of responsibilities. You could also think about it in terms of a professional journey, a social journey, and a spiritual journey.

We undertake these journeys to meet the needs of our four selves: the career self, the people self, the actualizing self, and the leisure self. As discussed in the balanced life model, the four selves are interconnected and mutually supportive, just like our three life journeys. For example, our professional journey not only meets our needs to develop and express our natural talents but also meets our social needs through relationships at work and our spiritual needs of making a contribution/difference.

Each journey requires its share of our time and energy, which as you probably well know, are increasingly limited resources. The problem arises when one journey consumes more resources at the cost of the other two, and our inner harmony is disturbed. We feel unbalanced and restless.

We have tools that can help you identify your priorities and make balanced choices. Take our Balanced Life checklist to see how you are doing with your balanced life choices.

Are you spending too much time stuck on the path of one of life’s journeys? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

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According to survey data released by the Australia Institute, one in two Australians had missed time with the family because of employment. Nearly half of the survey respondents said that their work had interfered with exercise, and more than a third said work kept them from eating healthy. 

In a recent article in The Sydney Morning Herald, writer Damon Young says that achieving a balanced life is difficult but possible... with combined effort by employers and employees.

"Some will need to reassess their professional identity," Young says. "In big organisations, it's easy to equate achievement with extreme labour. All the high-flyers do it – to fit in, one must do likewise. Soon irrational, exhausted, unbalanced life feels normal. And the payoff is simple: back-slapping, and perhaps a handsome pay packet. It pays for the house you don't see, and schooling for the children who don't know you."

The same Australian institute that conducted the survey also proposed a "Go Home on Time" day on November 24.

"At the very least, this raises awareness and sets an excellent precedent. It's a reminder to anyone stuck in the overtime rut: this is what it feels like to be home during daylight hours. The children are awake, and your spouse has energy for more than books in bed."

Young acknowledges that finding balance is a "formidable" achievement. "It takes enormous skill, wisdom and diligence to get it all balanced. This isn't some blithe, hippie fantasy, it's freedom itself: cultivating a strong, clear-minded, many-sided character. If we put as many hours into this aspiration, as we do into labour, we'd be more healthy, focused and prolific – perhaps even happier."

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