Creating balance in life

BUSINESS BITS
Aileen Santos

Our work-life balance expert tells us this week: If you want more balance in your life you have to start creating it!

Too many people, including entrepreneurs, feel they are victims of their life, never realizing that their lives are their own creations. Of course you can blame your parents, your terrible teacher in kindergarten, your unreasonable boss, or your country. But all that blaming really does is take away your power to make things better, and maybe even your power to achieve the kind of entrepreneurial success you want.

If you feel you're not enjoying enough balance in your day-to-day existence, then you'll want to take charge and start creating more balance! Taking charge requires you to do three simple things: Evaluate the things you're already doing, let go of the things that aren't working and implement new actions that could lead you to better results.

If you feel that your life has been out of balance for some time, use these three questions to guide you towards making things better: Does this "stressful time" have an expiration date? While it's true that you should expect periods of high stress in your life from time to time, realize that you can only truly cope with them if you know it's "just for now.

When you were a student, the stressful exam phase only lasted until you finished answering that final test. Now as an evolving entrepreneur, high-stress times should always come with an end date. Otherwise, you'll just be creating an earlier end date for yourself (i.e., your health, and your life).

What if your current stressful period has an "indefinite" time period? Take charge and create your own end date! Here are some examples: Sell 100 units of this product in the next three months. Afterwards, focus on a different product. Hire additional staff by June to normalize the current staff's workload, or outsource.

What is the real cause of your stress or imbalance: not enough achievement, or not enough enjoyment? Balance is really about getting enough of these two things: achievement and enjoyment.

While we might experience high enjoyment in doing certain activities (like watching TV or playing Farmville), you know that these might not be the same things that help you feel like you achieved something that brings value to yourself or others.

On the other hand, you may also be doing too many tasks that bring you high achievement satisfaction. But because they bring you too much stress, they just end up draining you of your enthusiasm for life.

Make a commitment to spending more of your time on tasks and activities that provide both achievement and enjoyment, and modify your other activities so that they do the same thing.

If you enjoy watching TV, for example, then make it a point to watch an insightful show with your family. And make sure to really discuss it afterwards! Use what you watched to teach your kids important life lessons. While the enjoyment factor is still there, you would've then used the same activity to achieve something worthwhile: real quality time with your family.

Are you moving towards (or do you at least know the general direction to) your own brand of success? Or are you just coasting along and living someone else's definition?

Do yourself (and humanity) the favor of really taking the time to figure out what kind of impact you want to make on the world. Too many people run after other people's idea of success, and then live incredibly bitter lives afterwards.

Commit yourself to an action plan that will truly use your calling to make the world a better place, in whatever capacity that you possibly can. Both achievement and enjoyment will come naturally, as long as you are clear about these things that matter most.

If you can't be a mountain, then be a hill. If you can't be the ocean, then be a wave. If you cannot be the sun, then be a shining store. It doesn't matter how big or small... just be the BEST of whatever you are.