Keeping in mind that Craig Groeschel writes that for pastors, “Living the balanced life will likely be impossible”, here are three “best practices”, from Jack Welch, for discovering and sustaining some form of work-life balance:

• Keep your head in whatever game you’re at. In other words, compartmentalize.

Welch writes, “No one wins when you routinely run your family’s carpool logistics from your office phone or e-mail customers from the soccer field. Compartmentalizing isn’t easy, obviously. Sometimes you must call a customer from the gym or check on a sick child between meetings. But the more you blend your life, the more mixed up, distracted, and overwhelmed you feel.” He concludes this discussion by writing, “There will always be pressures on whatever rules you set, but the smaller and less frequent the interruptions are, the more balance you will actually feel.”

• Have the mettle to say no to requests and demands outside your chosen work-life balance plan

This assumes that you have created a plan and then are disciplined in working the plan! He writes, “Usually… you don’t need to say no to something as large as a promotion to get the balance you want. You just need to say it to smaller stuff – a request that you join yet another non-profit board, a plea to coach yet another kid’s sports team, and the like.”

• Make sure your work-life balance plan doesn’t leave you out.

Welch writes, “If you don’t fulfill your own joy with your plan, all the balance in the world is just duty. One day, you’ll wake up and find yourself in a special kind of hell, where everyone is happy but you. And that doesn’t do anyone any good.”

For more Jack Welchisms check out his book Winning.