Life is a Balancing Act
About a year ago I had the amazing opportunity of being able to spend a couple of weeks with my friend Jim Bunch and his family in San Diego. Jim is the creator of The Ultimate Game of Life. What I observed during my stay with Jim is the way he designed his lifestyle; his work is actually built around his lifestyle. It’s the coolest thing and really very inspiring.
“At the end of the day nothing matters unless you’re living a balanced life.”
There are 3 key elements that most people will require to live a balanced life:
- Invest time in yourself
- Invest time in family, relationships
- Invest time in work
Unfortunately, in today’s society working a traditional job does not fully support these choices. However, if applied deliberately on a daily basis, taking small steps to implement these 3 key elements will eventually result in a happier, healthier, and more productive life.
The primary driver or motivator for me back 10 years ago when I quit my job was not being able to control my own life and circumstances. I didn’t feel as though I had control of life, and I wanted to so badly!
Across the board, one thing that every entrepreneur I’ve ever worked with has in common is that they want control of their life.
As entrepreneurs, we get to make choices on how we will use our 24 hours. Whether we choose to spend the day with the kids, or work until 4 AM, the secret to a balanced life is to design your life around your work. Pencil in your vacation time, your personal and family time first, then fit in your work events and design your work schedule around your life.
We weren’t designed to be under constant duress by being accessible and on-call all the time as evidenced by how frazzled we feel at times.
We live in such a fast paced world, especially those of us who are digital entrepreneurs. Yet, if we want to live a life that is balanced despite the bombardments coming at us from every angle through the medley of mediums, media, and notifications, we have to make a deliberate daily effort to implement these key elements.
When you’re in balance, it’s not that life becomes any easier, no; however balance makes life more effortless as you are stronger and more centered. As you make adjustments in your daily plan to implement these vital energy investments into your schedule, it also means you’ll be reprogramming to create new brain patterning.
Ultimately, balance is the goal whatever your career, job, or business may be.
You can have a life by design, but it’ll take a conscious effort to sit down and figure out what you want it to look like.
If you’re waiting for life to show up, you’re living reactively; day after day, month after month, and year after year will come and go with you simply reacting to your circumstances. Reactive living won’t work long- term. “The top will stop spinning at one point”… you have to have a direction.
Know what you want, find balance and money will be a by-product of these choices.
All my best,
P.S. This article is based on the April 2, 2013 podcast WAKE UP: A Balancing Act
