We continue our series answering real questions that our team members submitted earlier this year. This month’s topic is focused on the challenges of balancing and integrating the many things in our lives.

Question: "I've heard Russell Tooley say "God, Family, Simmons" before. I believe that personally, but how I spend my time, thought, energy completely flips those upside-down. Is there anything I can do practically to live that out?" (Siloam Springs)

Response by Russell Tooley, Simmons Foods CAO:

I do say on a regular basis that my priorities are “1) God, 2) Family, 3) Simmons”. I was asked what that meant to me and how I live that out in everyday life. It goes back to early in my career when I was so busy I would finish a week of work and felt like I hadn't completed what I needed to or had an intentional focus on my work, family and God. It just seemed that being busy was still leaving a hole in my heart and a feeling of not being fulfilled on what was important in life. High activity does not always mean high productivity. Being really busy does not always mean that I made a difference at work, with my family, and my relationship with God. Sometimes our week goes by so fast and it gets away from us, and we are left feeling incomplete or like we left something undone. A lot of times you have to go slower to go fast, so you have to be intentional on what you want to get done the next week or month. 

I watched a series a few years ago by Tony Dungy who was a Hall of Fame NFL player/coach, and he made a great point that still resonates with me. You have a work schedule that you layout, plan or adjust to, but do you have a plan around your family and God? For me, early in my career the answer was “no I don't” or “maybe I do…sometimes”. I have made it a priority to work hard and do a good job, but to also work hard for my family and God. Stephen Covey teaches in his book, First Things First, where we plan all the big rocks (To-do's for family and work) on our calendars before the week starts so we can be intentional. I now do my best to plan my schedule around these 3 things, so I can also live purposely throughout the work week.

Like in a football game, I have a playbook for the day, so I start with prayer every morning. After I do this, everything else almost always seems to fall in place like it should from a work and family standpoint. 

At lunchtime (which I call Halftime), I try to reflect on a few key areas:

• What have I done right?

• What haven’t I done right and need to clean up?

• Are there any adjustments I need to make for the second half of my day?

As in life, we all make mistakes and have a good gameplan or intentions, but often fall short. When we do, we just ask for forgiveness, make adjustments and strive to better serve our God, family and work. Fortunately, we work for a great company that encourages us to put our families and God first, so there's no excuse why I shouldn't be doing that on a daily basis. The Bible teaches us in Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord". I try to have this mentality throughout my day, and I encourage you to also be intentional, have a game plan and do great work for God, your Family and Simmons.

Question: “I love my job and get a lot of fulfillment from my work. But, how do I know when work should end and home & family life should begin?” (Emporia)

Response by Chaplain Nick Braschler, Director of Simmons Cares at Simmons Foods

What a great question and one I can resonate with. One of the things I love most about our team at Simmons is that we like to get stuff done! Take Action aren’t just words on a poster - we live it. But I get the question - how do I integrate my work with family?

You’re question prompted a couple of thoughts: 

God Created Work

We tend to think of the tension between “Life vs. Work” as “Good vs. Evil”. I don’t see it that way and God certainly doesn’t either. What I find fascinating is many people believe that work was created as a punishment for Adam and Eve’s sin. God actually established a call to work as part of His initial and perfect plan, before the Fall. The very first job description for Adam was: farmer. God provided him with meaningful work, cultivating the garden and naming and caring for the animals (Genesis 2:15-20). Sin entered the world and changed everything: how we related to God, our relationships with other people, and it changed our experience with work as well (Genesis 3:17-19). But God through Christ is redeeming all things. 

We have an incredible mission and purpose at Simmons. Through our work, we get to help solve the problem of hunger for people and pets in our communities and all over the world. There is a redemptive quality to this work and, as mentioned in the question above, it can be very fulfilling. 

There has to be times when we set work down though. This is a tough one for me. I really enjoy working. I love making a difference, getting things done, seeing progress and solving problems. And, there needs to be rhythms throughout our day and week where we focus on the areas of life that matter most to me, such as faith, family, friends, community, etc. 

Be Where Your Feet Are

I was having breakfast early one morning with a friend during a really challenging season. I was spread out in too many things, and not doing any of them super well - at work or at home. I felt guilt, shame, exhaustion, and I was really discouraged. At one point in our conversation, he said, “Be where your feet are.” I’ve thought alot about that statement lately. Do you ever feel guilty while your at work for not being with your spouse or family, and then when you’re with family, you feel guilty for not being at work? 

“Be where your feet are” means that whatever I’m doing - I am going to be fully present. If I am at work, I’m going to pursue excellence and add as much value to the people I’m working with and the tasks at hand. When I’m at home, I want to pursue excellence in adding value to my family by spending time with them, being intentional about connection and also having fun and making memories. 

Like many of you reading this, I have had to step out of family time to deal with a crisis, and I get texts and emails in the evenings as well. Some of these need to be dealt with immediately. Other situations could be handled first thing the next morning. The flip side of this is, there’s days I have flexibility and I’ll drop by the school and have lunch with one of my kiddos, or I’ll call Miss Val to see if she has time for a quick lunch date every so often. We try to create meaningful time together as a family, knowing that there are times when work is going to pop up unexpectedly.

One thing our Chaplain team has done that has been so effective is we have committed to guarding each other’s vacation time and weekends off. We started having one Chaplain on-call each weekend instead of everyone being 24/7. That was a huge change and it gave us all a chance to rest and enjoy some time off. When I say we guard each other’s time off - I mean it. I’ve been chastised by my team more than once for trying to work while on vacation! Why? We need to have intervals where we can check out and rest. It’s created alot of trust and we’re better for it, both in our work and in our health.

Work and life integration is all about taking consistent pulse checks and making adjustments on where your time, energy and presence is needed. The idea of work/life balance is a myth. Yes, you can balance both perfectly…for about 7 seconds. All it takes is one email or phone call and it tips the scale. Life is about constant rebalancing. The more consistently and regularly you make adjustments and intentionally invest your time into the areas of your life that matter most to you, the more you will find fulfillment…and peace. Something we are all searching for. 

REFLECTION:

• What are your Priorities in life?

• What is one Adjustment you could do in the next week that would help better align your priorities to your calendar, energy, focus, ect.?

• What would a “Halftime” look like in your everyday habits?

• How could the “Be where your feet are” principle impact the way you integrate your home and work?