For a lot of Men out there finding an adequate balance in life can be rather difficult. In fact, when we begin to break our lives down we start to see that there is so much going on it can be more than overwhelming at times. If you’re like me, you have so much going on you wonder how you actually get through a day – let alone a week or a month without going insane!
Before we get into it, it’s important to remember that everyone’s life is different and that we all have things going on where our time is spread across many things.
Oh, and if you are wondering, my schedule is insane. My week consists of the following. My family, the running of a house, football coaching, martial arts and aikido instruction, morning workouts and internal sessions, work, running my business and study. Now that’s before I even get to the weekend.
So let’s dive in shall we?
#1. Work. Rest. Play.
Regardless of what we do for a crust, where we live in the world or who we surround ourselves with, it’s highly important to have a balance of work, rest and play. Or put another way, something we do, something we don’t do and something that creates joy.
In 1959, Mars® confectionery released its TV commercial and the famous tagline that came with it. The tagline being, Work. Rest and Play. Now I’m not advocating you buy Mars Bars® nor am I plugging their product, but their famous tagline is bang on when it comes to balance in our lives. Having an even balance of work, rest and play creates a wondrous dynamic that sees us energised, happy and healthy.
The reality is work provides wealth, puts food on the table and allows us to buy those expensive gadgets from time to time. It provides financial security which is comforting. But if we are always working and not having adequate rest and play then life becomes mundane. The potential for our health to deteriorate skyrockets whilst those things that used to bring us joy simply don’t anymore.
I say, the balance is in creating a balance of work, rest and play.
#2. Focus On What’s Most Important To You
A really good way to ensure balance in your life is to focus on what’s most important to you. Once defined, you’ll automatically lean into it creating time and room for it in your daily life. At the very least you’ll be mindful of what’s most important to you thus slowly work towards it over time. This also creates balance internally.
For me, it’s my family and the time that we spend together – that’s what is most important! The other area is my continued practice of martial arts. It has been a way of life since 1998. A way in which I live my life daily.
Once we establish what’s most important to us we are in a much better place to establish balance in our lives. Why? Because we have now given our focus points a genuine purpose. A purpose in our lives.
#3. Break Your Day Up Into Small Blocks
This has been a masterstroke for me since I was 13 years old. In fact, I have created a lot of success by implementing this very practice. By breaking large days or tasks up into small blocks or small chunks allows us to fall into the presence and flows of things much easier.
Whenever I tackle anything in my life, any project, I go about it by breaking the task up into small blocks. For example, when I was playing drums professionally I would practice for 3-5 hours per day depending on my schedule. Rather than going about the practice aimlessly, I would break up the sessions up into 30 minute blocks that included breaks. Again, it had a balance.
Drum Practice Breakdown:
25 minutes – rudiments
5 minute break
25 minutes – reading (charts)
5 minute break
25 minutes – rudiments (around the drum kit)
5 minute break
25 minutes – groove practice (10x drum grooves, 3 minutes each)
5 minute break
25 minutes – style practice (funk, jazz, latin, pop, punk etc…)
5 minute break
30 minutes – performance practice (working through songs for upcoming performances)
Breaking things up into small blocks takes away the stress of being so overwhelming. It also creates a balance of its own. The other thing it creates is fun as the project doesn’t become so mundane where you eventually quit.
Balance is Yin Yang. Balance is creating equality. If something is out of balance we become sick, poor, unhappy amongst many other things.
Whatever your thing, ‘balance’ needs to be at the forefront of your thinking / being.