Finding the balance in your life

I've learned that you can't have everything and do everything at the same time. ~Oprah Winfrey

What generally happens when you eat too much salt? (high blood pressure) What generally happens when you eat too much? (obesity) What typically happens when you sleep too much? (nothing gets done). Although each are necessary, they all have to be done in moderation. A wise man once said that "too much of anything is a bad thing".

I believe one of the biggest reasons why we fail when taking on a new endeavor in life is that we try to take too much of it too fast. I know personally, I tend to get tunnel vision and disregard everything else going on in my life to concentrate on that task. During this time period I usually allow other important things (friends, family, other obligations) fall to the wayside while I am concentrating on my task at hand. This results in not having as strong ties to the people who mean the most to me and well as me not fulfilling previous obligations.

I am not trying to say that you should not devote time and focus on whatever task that you wish to accomplish, however, I do believe it is important that it is not the only thing that you spend your time/resources on. Focusing that much attention on one task does not eliminate the other responsibilities that were going on prior to acquiring the new task.

Personally, the lack of balance in my life is due to the fact that I have been devoting an abnormal amount of time to preparing for my future. I have been very focused on saving for retirement and making investments that I rarely spend money on things that I "want". I have been told over and over by many people that I need to concentrate on living my life today.

To contrast, I have seen the exact opposite. Those who buy whatever they want when they want it and amassing large amounts of debt in the process. My fear is that I have come across some people who I feel like have not dedicated enough resources to their future and I will end up owing large amounts of money to institutions forcing me to have to work indefinitely.

What it comes down to is that there needs to be a balance. Whether it be a new girlfriend/boyfriend, a new project at work, a new video or even trying to reach a financial goal, we must learn that we cannot let a single task monopolize our time. This results in us burning out with the particular task and usually results in the task not getting completed with our best effort. To prevent this from happening and to ensure balance, I recommend to do the following things below:

1. Always make "Me" time.
• There are many things that people to do to escape from regular life. Some people travel, some people sing, some people Facebook but whatever you can do to relax, you should do at least once a week.
• Relaxing is necessary but too much relaxing can mis-align your balance.
2. Use "Context Switching" to multi-task.
• Context Switching is defined as "the computing process of storing and restoring the state (context) of a CPU such that multiple processes can share a single CPU resource." (Wikipedia Link)
• Translation: A person (single CPU) executing one task (process) at a time for a dedicated amount of time (based on priority) then switching to a new task to execute that task.
• Prioritizing your tasks properly can contribute to finding the correct balance.
3. Organize your time wisely.
• Having a simple written plan of what you have to do and the steps it will take to accomplish it will help you organize and prioritize the tasks that need to be accomplished.
4. Accept that you cannot do EVERYTHING.
• You have to pick and choose your battles and some battles are not worth fighting.
• You have power to tell people "no" and it is one of the most powerful tools that you have when dealing with balance.
• It is important to make sure that you do not over-extend yourself because this will not allow for balance to occur when you are spending the majority of your time on a task.
5. Do not be afraid to ask for help (Contract help if you need it).
• A lot of people are overwhelmed due to the fact that they do not know what they are doing. Many things that seem complicated can be understood to be very easy after learning from someone who has already completed it.
• No one in this world was put on here to exist alone, it is easier to have a much more enjoyable life with the help of others to help relieve some of the tasks.

What are some of the other ways you maintain balance in your life? Leave your suggestions in the comments below.

Stay Disciplined!