Balancing Your Life

I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can't truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles. ~ Zig Ziglar

What is called "the norm" for today's lifestyle is very different from, say, fifty years ago. Today's norm has been pushed by educators and the media to accept over-achievement as the norm. This removes what was once a sense of satisfaction from our achievements and leaves many of us with a sense that we "need to do more." We've lost the sense of balance in our lives and it destroys many feelings of accomplishment or satisfaction. You need to find a way of balancing your life.

You know that I recommend Be the Change. This does not remove celebrations along the way to relax, enjoy, and celebrate your accomplishments so that you enjoy every morsel of your successes.

Is This Your Sense of Balance:

If you have become one of today's over-accomplishers and have neglected to stop and celebrate, to breathe deeply of your successes, you may have within you a blanket of self-doubt that says "Can I ever accomplish enough?" You may judge yourself based only on your success at work, for example, and leave your spouse and children standing in the dust of your whirlwind activities.

It's a good idea to look at your present moment. Are you enjoying it? As you read this, are you thinking about what's next on your To-Do list? Are you thinking about some negotiation that is going to happen later today? Do you ever feel as if you push yourself beyond exhaustion and that your busyness leaves some people out of your life, people who are integral to it?

Your life deserves to be looked at as a whole: part work, part play, part serious thinking and part restful enjoyment. It would be interesting to see what percentages you would attach to those four pieces. If they are out of balance, you will have low spirits. And if your numbers do appear out of balance, what positive steps can you institute to get a sense of balance back?

What precisely do you value in your life? Do you value your home, your spouse, your children, your family, your investment, your position, your spirituality? It's a lot of plates to be kept spinning. You will have to decide just how many of them you actually can keep spinning without doing damage to the whole of your life.

Take a look at the people you admire the most. What is it about them that you find admirable? Now, take a look at yourself. Are those same qualities of character alive in you? If they are, throw a party! If they aren't, make a list right now of three positive steps you can take this week to begin to put them into place. You deserve to feel as good about your own Self as you do about someone you admire greatly.

If your sense of achievement has turned into unbalanced over achievement, you can readjust all the energy you've been exercising by balancing your life. Put more or less energy into the pockets you discovered need it and move yourself toward greater satisfaction. Restoring your sense of balance among all the important things in your life will help you greatly toward a full sense of satisfaction and joy.