If you’re new to the ONE thing method, let’s break down what achieving balance really means. Hint: there are few myths to debunk along the way!
What Does Achieving Balance Really Look Like?
Everyone wants to achieve balance, in all things on a daily basis.
People have this idea to balance everything about their home life and work life, their clients, and friends, kids, hobbies, and how they feel- so that everyone and everything gets perfectly equal pieces of them each and everyday.
But have you ever been on a seesaw at a playground?
It’s never perfectly in balance, it might be for a second until one person puts their feet on the ground and depending on size and weight of the other person, that person either goes up or a super light person may even go flying off!
I am here to debunk this lie of balance.
A balanced life is a lie.
Gary keller
Just like a seesaw, trying to achieve perfect balance in all areas of your life is a lie.
This idea of balance you may have in your mind is never going to happen- unless, you want to be average, play small, and never feel satisfied.
But if you replace that desire for balance with counterbalance… your life will change in an instant. Your life, business, and personal relationships with those that are important to you will improve. You will feel overall happiness and a sense of calm.
The One Thing is About Counterbalancing, Not Achieving Balance
One of my favorite books, is The One Thing by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan, in this book Gary explains the idea of counterbalance.
In order to be great at anything, you need to be all in and that is why life is about counter balance.
Nothing great ever came from playing small.
In counterbalancing- work and life are separated into two buckets- each will need to be counterbalanced separately.
In your work, you need intense focus to achieve greatness.
In your personal life, the most important thing is the awareness to be present. To be present when you are spending time with your loved ones, to give them the attention they deserve. To be present in your practice of self-care and health and faith.
In Gary’s book he quotes a James Patterson novel, Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas, “where he artfully highlights where our priorities lie in our personal and professional balancing act: Imagine life is a game which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you’re keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls- family, health, friends, integrity- are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, and perhaps even shattered.”
Wow.
The image in your mind is much greater than a picture I could have placed here.
This one goes deep, it may even hurt a little bit and that’s okay as long as we use that for positive change in the future.
“An extraordinary life is a counterbalancing act. It’s all about how narrow you can make your focus.”
gary keller
I am grateful that this knowledge. It gives me a sense of peace and a deeper understanding and sometimes we all need a refresher in these lessons.
Counterbalancing and narrowing my focus is something I work on daily in order to live an extraordinary life.
I am on a quest to continue to live an extraordinary life and I hope you are too.
We can make more of so much, but we can never make more time. That’s why it’s so important to narrow our focus and strive for extraordinary.
So, I am going to leave you with ONE Thing.
Copyright ©2013 Rellek Publishing Partners, Ltd.
Action item!
Really think about it..
What’s the ONE Thing that you can do in each area of your life such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
And please report back, direct message me, I would love to hear how this helped you take your life to the next level to be the best version of you that you can be. If there is anything I can help with, I am always here.
I encourage you to pick up a copy of this quick read. There is a lot of valuable game changing information in this one.
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
Wayne dyer
