Developing Balance to Live Focused
Developing balance becomes more challenging with each thing that piles up on life.
Too much.
There’s too much to do and not enough space on my to-do list to put it all. Forget about finding the time to get it done. Instead, I run around doing stuff, unsure of what I’m doing and why, and definitely without a goal line to aim for.
It feels like I’m running uphill on the sand with flip-flops on. Developing balance in flip flops, especially when you’re trying to run uphill in the sand, is an impossible task.
I wasted too much time and energy in the cycle of doing without knowing why. It was an endless circle of laundry, cooking, and errands – and about the time I got one finished, more showed up.
In 2013, I was first challenged to set a focus word for the year. That led to me creating an anchor word each year to keep me on a firm foundation, a focus quote or Scripture to keep my eyes aimed up, and the four squares of balance – all of which were mapped out on my #WhiteBoardofWorldDomination.
Even though things have changed in the last decade, the focus remains. The four squares of balance help me stand through the shifts, storms, and stumbles – just to name a few of those distractions that pop up when we get determined to live our best lives.
Value of Developing Balance
You can’t walk when you aren’t balanced.
When I was in high school, we had spirit weeks where the different classes competed against each other – freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors – in a series of events. The week culminated in the Spirit Olympics.
One of the funniest events requires participants to run to the end of the court, put their head on a bat and the bottom of the bat on the floor and then they would spin around to ten times. Once they completed all of their spins, they would drop the bat and attempt to run back to the other end of the court.
I say THEM, because I never tried. I knew better. And I say attempt because almost every one of them became unbalanced enough that they couldn’t walk, much less run.
When we spin around with our heads against the problem, distraction, or delusion, then we end up in a similar situation.
Gaining Your Balance
- Start with knowing you – your voice, your unique design, your definition of success, and your BIG DREAM goals.
- Give attention – equal attention – to each area of your life: Aspiration – work or profession; Stewardship – care of stuff (property, possessions, TIME); Transformation – health, head, heart – what you learn and how you feel and where you stand in Faith; Fellowship – friends, family, connections – remember it is ALL about relationships.
- Break down the BIG DREAM goals for each area into little bits.
- Bread down the little bits into daily intentional tasks.
Now you have a map for where you are going. Once you know who you are and where you are going, you can be flexible and forgiving about how you get there.
If you are going to the beach and you pack and get on the interstate, you don’t turn around and go home because of a detour or traffic delay. You get flexible in your going because you are determined to reach your destination.
We have to get as determined to reach our BIG DREAM goals as we are to reach our vacation destination. Developing balance is vital to making that happen.
Are you ready to gain the balance and stop spinning around the bat? Check out the full Focused Flexibility Quarterly Planner by visiting HERE. https://pecuproductions.com/focused-flexibility-quarterly-planner/
