We need balance in order to live a happy and healthy life; everything in this world comes down to finding the proper balance. Whether it’s in work life and home life, eating healthy and eating what makes you happy, doing stuff for others without neglecting yourself, etc., everything works better and goes more smoothly when you’ve got a balance.
Achieving said balance isn’t the easiest thing, but here are five ways to introduce more balance into your life and get things going in the right direction.
1) Prioritize
Prioritizing and scheduling can be a great practice to start introducing more of a sense of balance to your life. We all have busy lives and long to-do lists; the only way we’ll ever get everything done and find balance in our lives is by prioritizing what needs to be done when and scheduling our days.
The tricky part to this is deciding just what is important; in some cases, your work may take priority, but in others family or friends may take priority over your work on your to-do list. Only you can decide what’s important and what should be prioritized in your schedule.
2) Set Goals
Setting both long-term and short-term goals can prove to be incredibly helpful in achieving balance in your life. It helps you keep your sights on what you want and what’s important, avoiding too much straying from your path. The short-term goals help you to track your progress as you work to achieve your long-term goals, and help you stay on track.
3) Be specific in your schedule and review it
If, in order to achieve more balance, your goals were to, say, spend more time watching cooking shows, you’re more likely to complete it by saying “watch The Barefoot Contessa and Iron Chef every Tuesday and Thursday evening at 5,” then if you say “watch cooking shows at least twice a week.” Don’t set yourself up for failure.
Once you’ve completed your schedule and are sure that you’re specific in the goals you want to achieve and the steps necessary to get there, you should review your schedule. This is an incredibly important step allowing you to reflect on your goals and priorities to ensure everything is as you need it.
4) Find an accountabilibuddy
An accountabilibuddy is someone that holds you accountable for the goals you’ve made, the priorities you’ve set, and the things you’ve said you’ve wanted to do and accomplish. It’s easier to find balance and stick to your goals and schedule when you have someone to be accountable to that is also accountable to you.
Your relationship with your accountabilibuddy should be interactive and mutual. If you’re not pulling your weight or you are carrying more than your load, you could be hurting yourself more than you’re helping.
5) Always keep the process in mind
Life isn’t just about what you achieve and what you get, it’s about the journey, the process. In order to achieve a proper balance, you need to always keep in mind that it’s more the process than the potential achievement.
For example, you can make your goal to win a Nobel prize in literature, or you can make it to be paid to write for your career. The latter is a more achievable goal that focuses on the process and journey more than the achievement or prize at the end.
Everyone needs balance in order to live a happy and healthy life. Finding the proper balance in your life can be difficult, but it’s not impossible and it’s well worth the effort.