As a business owner, finding balance is hard. I am obsessed with my craft. If I am not reading or studying how to become a better coach or athlete, I’m thinking about it. I do think a certain level of obsession is needed to reach your peak in any field. However, being too focused on any one thing is not always healthy. It can lead to missing out on other areas in your life. These areas are critical for your personal development. So how do we actually find balance in today’s day and age?
- Make time for yourself – I cannot stress this enough. If you are incapable of being happy, it is impossible to make others around you happy. I’d argue you won’t be as productive in life when you just coast your way through. I know everyone’s “busy” and I hear the same excuses time after time – “I don’t have time”. I say, that’s bullshit. If you don’t have time for yourself, you’ll never have time for anyone else. I challenge you to set aside at least 30 minutes per day for yourself. The more the better. During your “you” time do whatever makes you happy. This will be different for everyone, but you’d be surprised the impact it has in other areas of your life. Three years ago I took up a new hobby, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This is a sport which requires tons of time and patience – normally things I do not have. Over the past year it has taught me many valuable lessons, mainly making time for things that make me happy. I feel I have become a better business owner and coach by learning patience through BJJ.
- Make time for your loved ones – I think most of us are pretty good about this, but end up being resentful a lot of the time. I think that stems from number 1. If you can’t be happy yourself, it’s hard to spend happy time with others. Making time for your family and friends is so important, life is too short to always be “busy”. Life passes us by and before you know it, you’ve lost touch with a close friend or a family members passes away. I hate to sound so dismal but it’s reality. Love and friendship rank higher on my priority list than money ever will. The experiences with friends and loved ones are the memories you’ll cherish for eternity. Set aside time to go visit your mother. Pick up the phone and call a friend you’ve lost touch with. Trust me you won’t regret it.
- Disconnect – I am SO GUILTY of this. We spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years “connected”. Checking emails, browsing the web and on social media. Hell I even do this 99% of the time when I’m actually with people, and I know you do too. This is an awful habit, and one that’s even harder to break. I challenge you to leave your phone at home next time you go out to dinner with friends. Or come home from work one night and don’t check Facebook or Instagram, it’s so hard I know. Start with something simple like eating dinner at the dinner table. No phone, no TV, no computer. Make this a habit and go from there. We live in a world where we are so scared to miss out (FOMO) yet we are missing out on real life interactions. These interpersonal connections are what we will remember later in our lives, not what Jimmy’s Facebook status was.