On Balance

Here is my position on balance.

Balance is a worthy goal, but I don’t think we have a correct calibration of the scale on which it is measured.

Let’s all agree that it is unreasonable to ever achieve a perfectly balanced second, minute or hour. But then why would we have a balanced day or week? It’s not actually that much more time.

So, when you are setting a goal to have a “balanced life”, be intentional about the timescale. I generally find that planning over a month is a good fit for me.

Now what are you trying to balance anyways? There are a couple ways to go about this.

If you want to consider the 7 Dimensions of Wellness, like I did in my Time Management Series, you would want to balance the:

·        Physical

·        Emotional

·        Intellectual

·        Social

·        Spiritual

·        Environmental

·        Occupational

Perhaps you could also take the Artist’s Way route and balance:

·        Spirituality

·        Exercise

·        Play

·        Work

·        Romance

·        Adventure

Putting it into Action

Through Project Passport, I learned about thinking about balance through pendulums. As much as we would like the pendulum to stay right in the middle, if we want to grow and move forward in our lives, that’s not how it will work. It will swing around based on life. It’s basic physics. 😉

But let’s bring back our thoughtful timescale. Perhaps we start by charting out where it has been over the past little while. Then we can start mapping it out by anticipating what may come, or at least set some intentions on what we want. There are going to be days over-indexed on “work” and others or “adventure” – but it is not a failure in balance if you can get it to eventually even out.

Similarly, the Artist’s Way (a course I’m doing over 12 weeks as facilitated by Fluently Forward) has an approach to map your progress:

·        Draw a circle and divide it into the pieces you want to balance. Put a dot in each pie – the further out, the more fulfilled you feel in that slice. The closer to the center, the less fulfilled you feel.

·        Connect those dots with a line and see the shape it makes.

·        Repeat the process every couple of weeks to see how it evolves and where you need to direct your energy next.

A Note About Fear

Life is unpredictable and throws many curveballs. You already know how I feel about that (and how Men Ruin Plans).

This may also mean that you are loathe to make plans and set intentions. This, at its core, is a fear of wanting.

The fear of wanting is a fear of being disappointed.

The fear of disappointment is a fear of being ungrateful.

The fear of being ungrateful, is a fear of not having a will or reason to live.

This is too many layers of fear.

Have courage, be brave and want instead. You have everything to lose but everything to gain as well.

Does this resonate or am I off the mark? Let me know what you think.

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