Even though the holidays are behind us, Elf is quickly becoming one of my new holiday favorite movies. Will Ferrell is hilarious and the story line is ridiculous. The scene where Buddy (Will Ferrell) outs the mall Santa because he isn't the real Santa is priceless. Seven words: “You sit on a throne of lies.” But it's James Caan's character, Walter, who really intrigues me. He's a good guy who is doing his best to provide for his family. He has a high-stress middle-management position that is consuming him and his family is suffering because he's out of balance. His character works because we all know someone, or we are that someone who has lost sight of what's really important.

With deadlines mounting, promotions in the balance, bills, the demands of running a business, it's easy to lose sight of the people we work so hard to provide for. One of the major issues I help many of my clients solve is finding a balance between work and life. It can be tricky, it's always scary, but it can be done.

Let's look at 5 reminders that can help you be ridiculously successful at home and in the office.

1. Success is Holistic

There are so many definitions of success. Almost all of them involve money but most don't involve balance. Therefore, we end up making decisions that may be more profitable but not as family or socially friendly. It can be very easy to ignore your family in the quest for financial success. I firmly believe that success is holistic. If you are experiencing success at work but failure at home then that isn't really success. Work to ensure you are succeeding both at home and at work vs. succeeding at home or at work.

2. Remember Why You Work

Why do you go to work? Why do you spend 40+ hours per week, 160+ hours per month, and almost 2,000 hours a year punching a clock, managing projects, stuck in traffic, and looking forward to weekends? Most of us work to enjoy a lifestyle. The money we make helps us to take vacations, send our kids to the best schools, buy a house, essentially to provide for the people we love. Don't let providing for them undermine your relationships with them.

3. Prioritize

Where in your priorities does your family fit? Here's how you can answer that honestly. How have you chosen in the past:

daughter's softball game or an important meeting

dinner with the family or another late night at the office

birthday party or business trip

I could go on, but you get the point. The goal here isn't to make you feel guilty about the past, but to help you make decisions in the future that are more consistent with holistic success. Here is where you set boundaries. This is where you ask yourself the tough questions that help you make the tough decisions later. What gets prioritized gets attention.

4. Think of The Finish Line

This is an interesting exercise I work through with my clients. Imagine you have attained all of the success you could ever desire. You have all of the wealth and influence you could possibly want. You have reached the finish line (remember it's an exercise... stay with me) who is there cheering for you as you cross the line? Now for the $64 question, who do you want to be there cheering for you? Can you see their faces? What do those people mean to you?

5. Keep Your Promises

Trust is one of those things that is easy to lose, but really hard to regain. One way you can rebuild trust if you have missed out on a few important events is to not do that again. Make your word your bond. Imagine your family as a project and you're the project manager. Your son's pee wee football game is a critical path item. Your daughter's recital is a "very important meeting". Your date night is an "appointment you can't cancel". What I am saying is, handle your family events with the same care you handle your work events. Say you will be there and be there. Be as reliable, consistent and dependable at home as you are in the office.

BONUS: Small Changes Make a Big Difference

Here are a few practical and easy ways to create more time for the most important people in your life. Schedule times that are family sacred. In our family, we have a couple of family nights: Movie Night and Taco Night. We all look forward to these and they are on my calendar and I work hard to schedule appointments around them. If I do have an appointment that conflicts with Movie Night, my family starts it later so that I can make the appointment and not miss the movie.

What would work with your family? A TV night, game night, pizza night? Maybe you need a Daddy or Mommy date day where you take your child out and do what they want to do and spend the day with them. However you do it, make sure you schedule some family time into your week. Be creative, be courageous and make this the year the most important people come first. Because these seemingly small changes will make a huge difference.

Back to Elf, Walter (James Caan) finally saw the error of his ways, in Central Park while talking to Santa Clause about his son Buddy (Will Ferrell). Odds are you won't be talking to Santa anytime soon, so this is your opportunity to bring balance back into your life and hopefully some smiles back into your home.

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David is an executive coach who serves as a thinking partner for business leaders, business owners, and the organizations they serve. He believes that better thinking leads to better decisions which lead to greater profitability. You can learn more about David at www.ArringtonCoaching.com or please invite him to connect on LinkedIn. David has been happily married for 19 years and he and his wife have 3 children.