But first, what the heck are KPIs again??

KPIs are the metrics we use to gauge the health of our business and assess whether we're meeting our goals. They encompass tangible, quantifiable data points such as revenue, profit, website traffic, email conversion rates, and customer acquisition costs. These metrics are vital for tracking business growth and performance.

Balancing Act: The Problem with KPIs Alone

While KPIs are crucial for monitoring business success, relying solely on these metrics can lead to a skewed perspective.

Imagine witnessing a surge in sales, subscribers, and followers—all signs of business growth. However, what if this success comes at the cost of your personal life? You feel super-stressed out, you aren't sleeping well, you aren't exercising, etc. If your life has to suffer at the expense of your business, something has to change.

To Create Actual Work-Life Balance You Need Key Calm Indicators (KCIs)

KCIs, or Key Calm Indicators, represent the aspects of life that are not easily quantifiable but are essential for a well-rounded, fulfilling life.

These calm indicators help you evaluate whether you're compromising your personal well-being for the sake of your business.

The KCIs that we like to keep track of on a weekly basis are as follows:

• Mental Health

• Physical Health

• Personal Care

• Marriage

• Friends & Family

• Community

• Rest & Joy

• Creativity

• Learning & Growth

• Travel

• Finances

• Home

Tracking KCIs: Finding the Balance

On Sundays, we conduct a comprehensive evaluation that includes both KPIs and KCIs. We rate our satisfaction in various life areas on a scale of one to ten. This assessment highlights areas that require improvement!

Each week, we select three focus life areas to enhance, maintain several others, and intentionally deprioritize a few. This intentional deprioritization empowers us to make conscious choices about what to neglect while maintaining balance.

Maintaining Work-Life Balance with KCIs

To measure these KCIs (focus life areas), we set specific goals that align with our well-being.

For example:

• If we want more Rest & Joy we have to Reduce Work Hours

• If we want better Mental Health we need to Prioritize Daily Meditation

• If we want improved Family Time we will Increase Communication Efforts

These indicators might not be straightforward to measure, but assigning satisfaction scores keeps us honest and attentive to neglected aspects of our lives.

When it comes to the importance of measurement, Peter Drucker is quoted with saying:

"What gets measured gets managed."

This quote not only applies to business metrics (KPIs) but also to keeping track of and making improvements in our personal lives (KCIs)!

Alignment, Not Balance

The concept of work-life balance implies an ongoing equilibrium between the two things. However, the reality is that work AND life are dynamic and ever-changing.

Instead of chasing an elusive equilibrium, we focus on aligning our work with our work-related needs and our life with our life-related needs.

The goal is to create a fluid, adaptable balance that serves the current demands of our lives. When things feel out of alignment all we have to do is take a hard look at what we're prioritizing now and what we need to change moving forward to have better alignment!

KCIs Wrap-Up for Better Work-Life Balance

To run a calm business and have a calm life, we believe that both KPIs and KCIs are important to track. Work-life balance is not a destination you one day arrive at, it's a constant pursuit you're always fighting to feel.

In our experience, work-life balance can exist when our life metrics are as closely tracked and monitored as our business metrics are.

By regularly assessing our key performance AND key calm indicators, we can ensure that our time aligns with our priorities and that we lead fulfilling, well-rounded lives.