Live in the moment

I read a great book this weekend – “The Five Secrets you must discover before you die” by Dr. John Izzo and I highly recommend it. Although the title includes a word that reminds us of death (and that’s always dangerous!) the point is that we will all die someday and we don’t know when that will be. Therefore we should maximize the time we have each day.

That may be obvious and a well trodden path. However, how many of us really live like that? This has implications for work-life balance. One of the five secrets was to live in the moment.

If you knew that you only had 6 months left, what would you do with that time? Think hard about it.

If you are like most of us the things that you want to do involve mending broken relationships, seeing people you haven’t seen for ages, reconnecting, going to places you have always wanted to go. Most of us don’t include things like: watch TV, work more etc. Why is that? Well, this exercise gives you a window into things that truly matter to you.

So the next question is: What is stopping you from doing those things now? Because, (and I hate to bring this up) none of us knows whether we actually DO have more than 6 months, do we?

So think about the NOW – what is really important to you and how are you going to find time to address those areas of your life?

Too much to do….

I was in Branson this weekend – I didn’t realize it was the 3rd largest attraction in terms of visitor numbers in the US. Maybe not in the middle of February but nevertheless……

I was thinking that we are in a”microwave” climate. Further to my post last week there are so many things to do and it seems as though there is never enough time to do them all. So we tend to want things to happen quickly: miracle diets promising rapid weight loss, latest get rich quick schemes and so on.

I have also seen this used as an excuse to basically consider work-life balance to be unattainable. I hear it a lot: “Oh, balance would be nice but in today’s high pressure world it can never be achieved so I may as well resign myself to this – it is what it is” and variations on that theme. Well there is a lot of stuff about personal belief in there but I won’t go into that now!

Firstly I think we all fall victim to this type of thinking. In response we chase the bright shiny things and then move on quickly to the next one. It seems as though there is never enough time in the day.

However it may help to think about what is truly important to you in your life. If you came up with a word like “family” think more specifically it is about family that means the most to you. Then think about one area you would like to improve IF YOU HAD TIME. Think about this assuming you did have time. What is the one thing you could do now……

How much time would that really take on a daily/weekly basis? Remember this is what is most important to you! What will you give up to achieve this? Hint: It may be TV.

When will you start to do this?

Bright shiny things

Do you know anyone who is always looking for the next opportunity, or the next thing that’s going to make money?

It is human nature to look for opportunities of course. We should always be aware of these things and keep our eyes and ears open for them. However there is also merit in deciding on a plan, planning a course of action and then doing it. Perhaps most importantly though, that plan needs to be measurable, and needs to be given time to realize results.

Many times I see people begin to take action but before it has a chance to work, or even be evaluated, they rush onto the next thing – whatever than may be. In marketing terms this is the next advertisement, the next website design, the next direct mail opportunity. Maybe it’s the next miracle diet, the next toy electronic device. Whatever it is, these are the bright shiny things in our world and we have a tendency to run from one to another and are then surprised when they don’t provide long term satisfaction.

What is the solution? Well I have hinted at it, it is about planning. Plan what you want (whatever that may be) and decide what things fit in with that plan. When you see a shiny thing, think in terms of your plan and whether that honestly fits. How much time do you need to make that evaluation? Perhaps more importantly, what will you have to sacrifice or stop doing to pursue the shiny thing?

At least if yo then decide to follow it, it will be intentional and you will know what you expect as a result and what the impact is.

Law of attraction – is it still a secret?

I am a great believer in the law of attraction and how it can help us achieve balance.

I have read “The Secret” as well as many works that went before that have a similar theme – particularly Napolean Hill’s classic work: “Think and grow Rich”. I find that the only message sometimes lacking in the overall concept of “thoughts become things” is the necessity to take action. In other words, the visualization is essential as is feeling that the universe is a place of abundence, but you personally need to take action if you want these things to be realized.

In terms of balance there is a useful exercise that encourages you to visualize, in detail, your ideal day and your ideal working week. It works best when completed with a facilitator but can work on your own as well. Think in detail about what would be your ideal balanced week in terms of: where are you? Who are you with? What are you doing for work? Leisure? family? What house are you living in?

Think in as much detail as you can and write it down on a sheet of paper for future reference. It needs to really mean something to you. Once you have done that keep it in mind but don’t go into detailed planning at this stage as to how you are going to achieve it all. However you DO need to make some intial plans to make it more real. For example if you want to change careers you might want to give that some specific thought as to what you will be doing and investigate how you will go about making the change. Talk to others, investigate and research to really get a feel for what your new career will look like.

You can do this on a day to day basis as well. Visualize an ideal day and notice the little things that make that day ideal for you. If they are missing in your everyday life now, what do you want to do to get that into your life? Think about what it will mean to have that extra leisure time, that extra time for yourself? Make some commitments to bring that into your life.

It isn’t easy but by taking some actions you will be surprised by how things align for you along the model of the ideal day or week. Even if you don’t subscribe to the law of attraction, you will find that you are getting closer to your ideal balance by taking intentional action to achieve it.