We have all known workaholics in our lives. I admit I was one for several decades. They brought me up to assume that it was my job as a male head of the household to work and provide for our family’s needs. I give myself a C- for balance in my life during those days. Now I am in a new phase of my life and working harder to find balance, mindfulness, and harmony. One admonition we always heard while I was working in the corporate world was work-life balance.
Work-life balance was a means of trying to improve employees’ lives by trying to help them find balance. The only problem with this is that the corporation always had first call on your time-day, night, and weekends. You could try to fight this, but you seldom could win if you wanted to advance.
Life Balance
Life balance is really More about Harmony stated Rodger Dean Duncan in a Forbes article. Many people feel rewarded for their work. It energizes them. But if they ignore other aspects of their life, they will eventually pay a steep price- bad health, divorce, alienation from their children, etc. Finding a true balance in your life requires you to rethink success and your self-worth. If you define success as work only, then you will ignore or pay little attention to health, finances, family and friends, personal growth, romance, fun and recreation, and your physical environment. These are all major aspects of your life that require regular attention. Here is a graphical way of checking your balance in your life.
5 ways to bring Balance and harmony into your life
Here are a few tips to get started bringing your life into balance.
1. Take care of your health and nurture your mind. Movement is necessary to the body. Life does not mean for us to sit around all day. So begin a regimen of walking and stretching until we can get outside. When the parks open hike and more strenuous exercises while maintaining safe practices because the Covid virus is still here and going strong in many areas. For your mind, try YOGA and meditation exercises.
2. Identify your priorities. Perhaps you rotate the time spent in each area through your week, month or year. Keep in mind that is spite of what everyone thinks we can do, we are not supermen. So you have to prioritize your activities. Not every area can have 100% of your attention every day. Share your attention.
3. Work at being productive and efficient. Know what you have to do and when you have to doit. Build a system so it doesn’t weigh down your mind. An automated productivity system relieves your mind from having to remember everything all the time. If you are reading my productivity series, we will dive deeper into this.
4. Know that no matter what your system may be, the unexpected will happen. This year, so far, it has Benn the Covid-19 Pandemic and the protests of the policing and Justice system.
5. Practice mindfulness. You need to reduce your stress, be fully at the moment and aware of what is going on in your family.
Always remember that your life is a journey. If you think your life is out of balance. Work on bringing it back into balance.
Mahatma Gandhi, said. “Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.” And “happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you dare in harmony.”
