`Frequently Asked Question: How do I achieve balance?

Many people struggle to figure out how to achieve life balance. Creating the balance that is right for you is important. Your ability to think, plan, decide and take action largely determines the course of your life. The better you become in each area, the better will be each part of your life and more effectively achieve personal balance and goals. when you look in the mirror there is not a half a person there; but a whole persper who exercises a wide variety of roles and functions. The truth of the matter is there will always be more potential activities then time to do all of them. Thus, balance is a continuous activity; and when your thought and actions are in alignment to your values, it supplies energy to you rather being a chore to strive for.

I have been asked upon occasion, how do I even start to figure it out? The first question to ask yourself is what is occurring to cause a feeling of disharmony or being out of balance. You may be feeling out of balance because life is like a treadmill - doing the mundane everyday aspects and not being the person you want to be; or alternately diving so much into work and career that health or relationships suffer, or not having the time to do everything you wish. each person has a different element that causes them to be out of balance. Identifying that key missing element is the seed to clarifying your values and achieving balance.

Personal strategic planning is the tool you use to get from wherever you are to wherever you wish to go. Where do you want to go? What would you like your life and career to be like in 5 years? How about 10 years? When you retire? Some people will define this down to the last detail, whereas others work from a big picture. The more clear you can make this future picture the easier it is to strive for it. For most achievers, this translates to "passion", even if they themselves would not use that term. Passion is the energy you give yourself for pursuing something interesting and important to you.

Recognize that for any change you wish to accomplish there are forces working for or against you in accomplishing this. These forces include your own thoughts, beliefs and attitudes; the influence of other people, and the cues from your surroundings. Changing those forces involves changing your beliefs about them and looking at them in different perspectives. One such perspective is personal balance - of aligning yourself to what is important to you.

Steps for Personal Balance
- Clearly define your vision
- Financial Areas
- Ideal job, career or business
- Free Time & Recreation Time
- Body and Physical Health
- Relationships with family and friends
- Personal Area, education or accomplishments to strive for
- Community you live in
- Go through a values determination exercise
- What is most important for you? list out values that resonate with you
- examples Accuracy, Adapatbility, Beauty, Calmness, Career, Compassion, Courage, Dependability, Drive, Education, Faith, Family, Friendliness, Generosity, Happiness, Health, Humility, Imagination, INtegrity, Kindness, Leadership, Modesty, OPtimism, Respect, Tact, Tolerance, Trustworthiness, Wisdom, Warmth
(This is not an exhaustive list merecom acts as seeds to trigger words that fit for you)
- Rank the top five values from your list generated
- Define with a small paragraph what each means to you and how you show it.
- Plan ONE single small change that will move you in the direction of your vision, and demonstrates your values.
- Every day for 3 weeks spend 30 minutes on that ONE change
- Maintaining the habit from NUmber one at the end of the three weeks add the second change
- Assess yourself at the end of every week on how effective you were.

Your personal strategic plan will be the basis of balance for yourself. This plan is aimed at giving you Return on Energy - you get more energy form doing the new things in alignment with your values and vision than you spent in making the change. But you MUST decide what to do and stick to it; that is why it must be ONE small change at a time. Your balance will come from the assessing each action you do against the value you want to demonstrate. Ben Franklin wrote down 13 virtues or values that he wanted to live in his life, each week he would focus on ONE of those values, and come back to that 4 times per year. The change and balance you seek will come by making small steps to you vision and sticking with them.

Mark Lindsay
President & Business /Leadership Coach
Advanced Personal Innovations Inc.

www.coachmarklindsay.com

Author's Bio: 

Mark was raised in Edmonton, Alberta. During highschool, he was in the Air Cadets and was awarded the Top Cadet in Alberta at the National Air Cadet Senior Leadership Course. After completing his B.Sc. in Chemistry at McMaster University, Mark decided to return home to Edmonton and set down roots. As an original team member for the building and start-up of the DuPont Hydrogen Peroxide Plant, Mark learned first hand leadership skills and team building techniques. Exposure to these ideas, along with the philosophy of continuous personal development, have charted the path of Mark’s subsequent career. Thirteen years later, Mark had an opportunity to run the Laboratory and Production of the BOC (now Linde) Special Gas plant – making calibration standards for laboratories. Again, Mark was able to bring his leadership skills and coaching techniques to improve production and sales. However, the desire to help people achieve their goals and enjoy a successful work life balance with a happy home life overrode the lure of chemistry. When asked what his ideal career is, the immediate answer was coaching, mentoring and personal development.

Mark has made Edmonton his home for over twenty-five years and is happily married to his high school sweetheart. Together they have two young sons.