Sustaining Life Balance

Stress that comes with the daily demands of a buzzling career and a domesticated life can make the concept of “balance” a myth for many people. Everybody’s natural reaction is to get overwhelmed by both expected and unexpected eventualities.

Balance in life can be achieved and sustained. Here are a few starting points to get there:

1. Synchronized Scheduling

Families, officemates and groups of friends can help sustain balance in their life by syncing their schedules. Often, this requires little investment such as putting up a shared calendar where members can scribble their appointments, activities and needs. A group calendar adds ease and organization into group activity planning.

Attempts to synchronize schedules can teach members of a group valuable lessons on reaching compromises and give-and-take arrangements.

2. Priority Sorting

It pays to review daily routines and omit the unnecessary. People are so caught up with the thought that there’s so much to do in so little time that they fail to evaluate the activities that comprise the routine. In deciding which activity to keep or cut, asking the following screening questions should help:

• Is the activity indispensable?
• Can the activity evoke positive feelings or can it compound stress instead?
• Does the activity foster well-being?
• Who benefits from the activity: one’s self or other people?
• How does the activity relate to one’s life goals?

By sticking to their priorities, individuals can have more doable schedules that allow a healthy interplay of work duties, family obligations and recreational treats.

3. Routine and Agenda Planning

Everybody loves excitement, but having an established routine helps keep individuals from procrastinating. Routines give people a sense of direction and order in their lives. The best planned routine is one that helps individuals stay on track with their life goals.

Today, the need for routine and agenda planning is more urgent for people who work from home than for those with regular 9 to 5 jobs. Work-from-home professionals enjoy a great degree of flexibility with their schedules, but sometimes this freedom can often lead to chaotic living.

4. Vision Setting

People need more than a fixed schedule to reach their goals. They must possess the drive to want to make their dreams a reality. Vision setting is crucial in this respect. It is possible for individuals to set different visions for themselves, their career and their loved ones.

Without at least one vision to anchor their existence on, people can wander through life aimlessly and invite mishaps after mishaps. Some common visions are:

• Acquiring a new vehicle
• Authoring a piece of work
• Earning a promotion
• Getting a pay raise
• Honing a newly discovered talent or skill
• Maintaining an ideal body figure or weight
• Sticking to a set budget
• Succeeding in a business venture
• Transferring to a new home

Visions foster a can-do attitude that enable people to seek out and actually work to achieve balance in their lives.

So, is it possible to lead a well-balanced life in today’s busy world? The answer is yes. People just need to work at it.