Originally published 23. July 2008 by Inspired Thoughts
What is “being in balance”? The whole concept of being balanced has most working folks confused. Where does balance come from? What in my life can be balanced? How do I get started putting balance in the chaos that is my life? When do I get a moment to just relax? STOP THE WORLD I JUST WANT TO GET OFF!!!
Balance as a general rule is an individual. What’s balanced for one person is different for another. What is in balance is based on where your threshold of chaos exists. So instead of trying to find someone else’s level of balance you should search for your own. When activities conflict and multitasking becomes a dirty word for you, here are some tips to reduce your frustration and increase the balance in your world:
- Women – take the “S” off your chest and let other folks handle some of the responsibility. So your sister won’t handle it “the way you would handle it’ – who cares – she’s taking care of it and it one less responsibility for you.
- Kids are messy and if you have kids there will be messes – Get over it! Your house does not need to be immaculate when neighbors/friends/relatives come to visit. Those who contribute to the upkeep of house make the rules and anyone not contributing has no vote on how the house should be kept. When relatives give you grief about your house remember 2 things: 1) everybody’s got an opinion but every opinion is not valuable and 2)if your house was really that bad, they would not come to visit! I’ve banned family from my home in the past and instead visited their homes…so that they could do all the cooking and cleanup after MY visit. Miraculously they became very understanding of my busy life style and since I lifted the ban, I’ve not heard another word about my house within the last 20 years.
- Kids can help! I’m sure I almost lost you on that one but yes…kids and significant others can help. It might be a new idea for them but they will get used to it just like they get used to everything else that changes. Everything in the house has to work, the refrigerator, the toaster, the microwave and the KIDS!
- Let the internet work FOR you! Go to your favorite search engine and type the service you need. For instance – “cleaning pick-up and delivery”, “grocery delivery”, “in home hair services”, “at home or personal concierge service”, “virtual assistant”, “kids transport”. The fee for these services varies but help does not need to be every day or every week so shop for the timeframe you need. What is the value of missing an event that’s important to you because you worked on a task that you’d pay $10/hour for someone else complete? What would you have spent that $10 on anyway? A cup of coffee at Starbucks?
- Become a quick analyst – evaluate the situation you’re looking at and determine where you have influence to take action. That removes the frustration we feel initially before we figure out what we are going to do with the situation. Then take the action and drop the drama!
- Avoid over scheduling yourself. Set realistic expectations for your time and what you can do and schedule the remainder for another time. Know where your limits are and set boundaries before you reach them.
- Schedule time in your busy day to spend 30 minutes for you. If you’re like me, 30 minutes seems impossible to find. But you’d find it to do any other task that was presented to you so find time for yourself. Take 30 minutes to listen to the music you like, have a glass of your favorite beverage or watch a favorite television program (Tivo’d, taped, or on DVD if the program was aired at a time when you could not watch it).
- When your business life encroaches on your home/personal life, you should determine if it’s periodic or constant. If it’s constant, look toward working from home once or twice a week if you work outside the home and use business services and smart re-scheduling of your time.
Just remember
– Balance is not the same for everyone
– There is more than one way to manage your life tasks
– Periodically home life and business life will temporarily overtake one another and that’s OK
– Your business life should not constantly overtake your personal/home life and when it does, follow the suggestions above.
Be Encouraged, Be Empowered, Be Inspired!
—Pamela
