Originally posted on Facebook HERE
Lotta pots and plants out there today. I guess that’s the kind of work my wife finds fun and rewarding. I’m more than happy to leave her alone to enjoy it in solitude and only get involved when she needs help lifting heavy things. But that has nothing to do with today’s post I guess – so let me try to focus on the topic for the day here… In life it seems like many of us strive for balance. We often hear about having a work/life balance. But, as I wrote about in my book “Everybody Dies”, we almost never have balance. Life doesn’t really work that way, nor should it. There are times we need to be more focused on work, other times when our family has to be the main focus of our attention – it depends on what’s going on in our lives. If we’re starting a new business, for example – work will need to be a greater focus at that time. If a family member is ill, we might need to focus on that issue and step back from other things. And, of course – life doesn’t just give us one issue at a time either. There’s issues bombarding us from all over in all the areas we call the “wheel of life”… work – relationships – spirituality – health – personal growth – fun and recreation… and whatever other categories you have as well. When we pay attention to one area, less attention is given to the other by default since there’s only so much time in every day. That being said, how do we make good decisions? We have to know our priorities. And – of course, our priorities are constantly changing as well. Everything is always changing. I got pretty focused on health around May of 2020, two months after the pandemic started. I decided to commit to running 2+ miles every day, at least 20 minutes of yoga every day, 10 minutes of meditation, write three pages every day and at least 10 minutes of reading. Every day. I did it for 296 days in a row. I look back and I have no idea how I was able to keep that streak up for so long, but I was committed to it. I was motivated, too – I was really disgusted with where I was at health wise when I started. So, health was being neglected and I made a conscious decision to make it a priority. And it became maybe my #1 priority for that period of time. We need to make a conscious choice about our priorities, otherwise life will make choices for us that might not match what we really want in our hearts. Work is a classic example – especially if you own your own business. It can seep in and become the number one focus very easily, always on your mind, never seeming like you can get to it all, and sucking time and energy from everything else. You don’t have the time to workout. You don’t have to time to meet friends, attend family events, meditate or take a vacation… because, well… work. It’s a common issue in the USA. Here’s a great way to see what priorities are really important to you… what if you only had been given six months to live? What if, by some fluke, the doctors could tell you the date of your death with certainty – and you would enjoy your current level of health until that date. Would work still be the number one priority? Would spirituality become more important? Family? Would you want to have as much fun as possible and see the world? Would you work out like crazy trying to prove the doctors wrong? Life is never in balance. It really never should be. Everything ebbs and flows. If we don’t set our own priorities, life will set them for us, so spend some time today making sure that you’re spending time on things that are important to you.
