Driving the 30 or so minutes up there last week, I found myself wondering about how many hours I have spent working on "balance" in my professional, personal and athletic lives. I have focused on making "to-do" lists, attending personal development seminars, meeting with coaches and mentors, reading many books and watching videos of other expert speakers and authors.
Over coffee, we talked about a few things...one of the topics we discussed is the importance of defining exactly "what" W/L B means to each person. My thesis is that seeking balance is elusive and will prove to be difficult (if not impossible) for most people.
Instead of focusing on what we don't already have (in this case "balance") I recommend people focus on what they want to experience more.
Occassionally, people have shared with me the desire to be able to have more time to do "nothing." Now, as much as I understand the "concept," I gotta say:
I don't think you want time to do nothing. I mean, if you had time to do NOthing, you'd do SOMEthing, right? I mean, with an extra 30 minutes of time to do NOthing tomorrow, would you read a book, play with the kids, watch something you recorded on TIVO, write a card or a letter, or...
As soon as you finish reading this, consider taking out a pen and a piece of paper and just writing for a while. At the top of the page, write down, "If I had an extra 30 minutes, I'd like to..."
Then, over the next week or so, see if you can add a few of those into your day-to-day experience. Who knows, you just might end a day or two next feeling a little more "balanced!"
Other...: www.WhereIsWomack.com
Coming at the issue from a different angle. . .
How about not having to balance a work/life ratio because the work that one is doing is his life's work that he truly loves. Or I guess just another way of referring to "the perfect job".
Posted by: Dave T | November 20, 2008 at 09:52 AM