5 Tips for creating balance in your life:

These days, finding life-work balance seems more elusive than ever.

Hello everyone, jeff noel, The Blog Whisperer, from Orlando, returning for another chance to help you help yourself. This post is about a topic nearly everyone struggles with – life-work “balance”. Here are 5 common sense tips I’ve learned from a lifetime of trying (and failing), observing, and studying others.

First: You should know I believe life-work stability is not a permanent address. You will not arrive and stay in a state of life-work balance. Balance is often like a pendulum swinging back and forth – as life’s challenges ebb and flow. Admitting this will make your efforts and results more realistic.

Second: The long way is the short cut. If you think there are short cuts, you might as well stop reading now.

Ok, so lets get to these 5 tips, Life’s Big Choices I call them:

1. Mental Balance:

• Seriously evaluate the people you associate with, the language you use, the things you watch, the things you read. All of these contribute to the habit of seeing the glass half-empty or half-full. You have a mental responsibility to manage this. It will require focus and discipline – and maybe some painful choices.

2. Physical Balance:

• Your body is a temple, a gift, a vessel. Ignoring or denying this sets you up for failure, big time. We’re talking the basics here: regular exercise, adequate rest (yes, rest is under-rated), proper nutrition. And how about a few fundamental health metrics like: BMI, cholesterol, triglycerides, resting heart rate.

3. Emotional Balance:

• Also known as spiritual essence. This is the part of us that longs to be loved and compels us to want to love others. We judge ourselves on our intentions – what we are going to do “some day”. Others are judging us by what we have already done. In other words, what you do thunders so loudly, I can’t hear what you say.

4. Financial Balance:

• Also known as our J.O.B. Every ant in the ant colony, every bee in the bee hive – all make a contribution. Same with humans. In our world, society pays us money for our contribution. As Abraham Lincoln said, “Whatever you are, be a good one”. Oh, and one more thing, spend less than you earn.

5. Administrative Balance:

• I call this your personal Head Quarters, or HQ for short. This is all the stuff that doesn’t fall neatly into the other four. The paperwork of life. It’s about being decently (not compulsively) organized, to keep up with life’s reality – there is a never-ending flow of stuff to deal with.

One more important thing before wrapping this up. Sort of like a bonus revelation. You must find your own way. If you are looking for the steps, a manual, the recipe – you will never bask in the glow of knowing both defeat and victory. And if you expect your children (or nieces, nephews) to be successful at this, know they will look at you and say one of two things: You we a glorious example or a terrible warning.

So there you have it. Simple. But not easy. Remember, just because it’s common knowledge doesn’t mean it’s common practice. That part is determined by you and you alone. If it were easy, none of us would have to worry about life-work balance.