Ever feel like there is simply too much to juggle?
As busy entrepreneurs or career driven professionals, we want to have it all.
Many of us know we can’t DO it all, so we become proficient at getting support.
Even so, there are some things that NO ONE can do in place of us, and many are left with simply juggling too much, especially, for some, when the holidays hit.
I’ve finally listened to Gary Keller’s The One Thing on Audible and wanted to share a piece from it:
Balance and Counterbalance
You may know that balance is a lie, especially if you are a parent or a business owner (or both), but do you know what to do about that?
You know the middle is boring and that the good stuff happens on either extreme, but how do you play at the extremes without hurting yourself or those who matter most to you?
The answer, per Keller, is Counterbalance.
He looks at your work life and your personal life. In short, business, family, relationships, integrity…
He compares these different areas to balls.
He notes that you apply counterbalance to each of these areas, but in different ways.
Counterbalance is simply about prioritizing.
What’s most important? Do that (hence, the name of the book).
He notes that with work, you go extreme with counterbalance. While you play harder at work at times, you also can neglect it more at times too.
With your personal life, your extremes aren’t as high and low.
You go a bit more moderate.
He states to “never forgo family for work.”
Extreme with your creativity. Moderate with your loved ones.
What about when it’s all tangled up?
When your business is your love, like another family member?
An extension of your personal life, part of who you are?
I think for people like us, who value our work so much, we all need to remember to put it in its place sometimes. At the same time, sometimes its place is super important.
It’s a personal answer for each of us how far beneath, next to or above our living children our business children our.
Gary Vaynerchuk addresses this question a bit in his book #AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur’s Take On Leadership, Social Media and Self-Awareness.
The answer is different for all of us.
What’s important – as Gary Vee stresses in other parts of his book – is self-awareness.
Don’t just work all the time because of the validation you think you get from it.
Or because you think you have to spend 12 hours a day at something only to feel accomplished when you really just want to be with the people you love.
By the same token, don’t cut your work short when you’re on fire with it because of an obligation to see your family if they’d be totally happy with you spending a few extra hours on your latest project.
Know what YOUR priorities are.
While I agree with Keller that we have to be mindful of the more delicate and precious things in our lives, as businesses can always be rebuilt and relationships and health may not always be as forgiving (despite often being so forgiving), we all have different set points on the rubber-glass scale of balls.
Also, business is relationships and requires just as much integrity as personal life.
Sometimes our work balls can’t give as much bounce as one might think.
At different times our glass balls have thinner or thicker skins and need more or less TLC.
In your personal relationships, the stronger you are connected, the hardier the ball. The more you take care of that ball, the more you’ll be connected.
Your partner will be more likely to support you in business when they know how important they are to you (and if they aren’t supportive in business, check this out).
Just make sure to be in INTEGRITY with yourself, your desires, what’s best for you AND your family.
So when you’re on your death bed, you’ll feel good.
At that point, if not already, you’ll realize no one’s evaluation of your life matters but your own.
To your greatest possibility,
Jenev
P.S. To have the strongest most resilient balls, you need connection.
As an entrepreneur, there are 12 key connections you need to skyrocket your success and satisfaction.
Find out what they are by clicking here.
Leave a Reply