Life can be incredibly crazy at times. But you already know that! You might even be feeling somewhat like the hamster on its wheel, running like crazy, but not really getting anywhere. All the while your wondering how do you keep your life balanced?
There’s no getting around the fact that our lives are filled with countless demands and activities. With 100’s of little tasks vying for our time, things begin to feel unbalanced.
Certain activities take up too much of our time, while other areas are neglected. There are, however, some simple habits that you can develop to help keep your life balanced and clear space for those things that matter most!
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1. Make a List of Your Priorities
The first habit you need to develop in seeking to keep your life balanced involves writing out your priorities. When you are clear on what your top priorities in life are, you know what you need to be spending your time on.
Writing down these priorities is super important to keep you focused and to bring balance. Knowing what is most important to you, and it may change depending on the season of your life, helps to stop the overwhelm. This gives you a clear statement of your priorities.
When you know your priorities, you know what’s worth spending your time on and what’s not! This way, when the end of the day comes, you know that you did at least one thing that was important to you rather than wasting an entire day completing a hundred useless tasks.
Right now I want you to write down what your top three priorities are. Now compare those against how you’re actually spending your time. Are those priorities lining up with where you are spending your time? Chances are they don’t.
However, by making that list of the things that matter most to you, you can now adjust where you are spending your time. This will help you keep your life balanced and have time for the things that will give you a life you love!
2. Plan Out Your Day
Now that you have a clear view of your priorities, you’ll want to make a plan for how you will spend your day. I am not talking about a checklist or a to-do list here. To-do lists are great, I personally love them and make a to-do list each day. However, you need more than a to-do list if you are going to find balance and not just busyness.
One of the things that really helps me is to break down my tasks into two tiers. The first tier contains those tasks which line up with my top priorities. The second tier consists of all other tasks.
By doing this you’ll make sure that the things that are the most important are being placed first. You’ll no longer just be checking off menial tasks from your to-do list.
Another aspect of planning your day is determining what time of the day you’re able to accomplish your most important tasks. For example, if you have little ones at home, (trust me this even happens with teenagers) it can be hard to accomplish those important tasks while they are up and about.
Our kids have a way of needing us as soon as we sit down to focus 🙂 Since you know this ahead of time, plan these activities during your child’s naptime, school time, or time when they’re otherwise occupied.
Tasks that require a lot of mental focus are best kept for a time you will have an uninterrupted ability to focus.
You can use the time your kids are up for chores that they can help with and for most errands. By doing this, you’re available for the needs of your kiddos while still being able to accomplish those more challenging tasks. This will automatically bring a feeling of balance and peace to your life.
3. Communicate
3. CommunicateThe third key habit to help keep your life balanced involves the art of communication. This is because bringing balance to your life necessitates clearly communicating your priorities to the people you share life with.
When the people in your life, that care about you, know your priorities and goals they are not going to place demands on you that are in conflict. But if you don’t communicate they don’t know and are more likely to ask things of you that will interfere with what you’re trying to accomplish.
Another added benefit of letting the people in your life know what your priorities are is that they will be able to support you. Moreover, they will understand when you say no to certain things that would interfere with your priorities.
Developing the habit of clear communication is key to helping to keep your life balanced.
4. Eat Your Frog
There is a well known and popular productivity book by Brian Tracy titled “Eat that Frog.” The book is based on Mark Twain’s famous quote:
“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning.”
Mark Twain’s theory is that if you do your hardest task first thing in the morning, it will probably be the hardest thing you do all day.
This same principle applies when it comes to trying to keep your life balanced. To be absolutely certain that you are making time for your priorities, do something for them the very first thing. Whether that means planning or immediate action, deal with first things first.
For example, if your priority is to have family dinners together make a plan for at least 3 dinners that week. However, if you know that your husband will be working late several nights this week, plan a family breakfast to take the place of the family dinner. By switching the family dinner to breakfast, you will be meeting your priority first thing.
Whatever else happens in the course of the day, you know that you will have met this priority.
5. Schedule Down Time
A major cause of our life feeling like it’s out of balance is over-committing.
When we have a free spot on our calendar it is so easy to quickly fill it up. In fact, for most of us, it happens without even trying. With every part of our day filled, stress and overwhelm are destined to follow. This results in our life feeling out of whack and unbalanced.
But if you take the time to schedule downtime activities, and actually write them in your planner, you will no longer have those free spots that so quickly get filled with less important activities.
Write in your planner, specific times to read, even if it is only 15 minutes. Schedule your time to get outside for fresh air. Plan for a 20-minute power nap when you know you have a busy day. Schedule time to call a friend or meet them for coffee.
Whatever it is that allows you to rest and recharge, plan it. These are the things that can have lasting and positive effects on your overall well-being.
Having regular downtime scheduled, helps us use our time well and brings that feeling of balance and well-being.
6. Utilize Your Time Intentionally
We all have those days where all we want is to plop on the couch, zone out in front of the TV, and binge-watch Netflix. If not Netflix, we get lost on social media and end up wasting more time than we even realize.
This might surprise you but honestly, it’s okay to do every once in a while. The problem arises when that’s what becomes the habit because when this happens our plans and priorities fly out the window.
On the other hand, being intentional with your time is vital to keep your life balanced. It is tough to do sometimes because we’re so easily distracted. We fill our days with tons of small, menial tasks that don’t leave you feeling fulfilled or satisfied at the end of the day.
When we make it a point to fill our time with more of what actually matters to us and make a point to have restful free time, we create a balanced Life.
7. Stop Trying to Do It All
7. Stop Trying to Do It AllWe’ve all seen them, social media, and the internet bombard us with images of these amazing women who appear to be doing it all. Homes perfectly organized, running successful blogs or small businesses, and giving incredible advice. We see these posts and images and begin to believe that we too should be able to do it all.
The reality is women who “do it all” are mythical figures. We need to realize that no one does it all and more importantly, we shouldn’t try to do it all. It is an impossible standard that does not exist and destroys our sense of peace and balance.
Instead, focus on your priorities and the things that really matter to you. Give up anything that overwhelms you or takes away from what really matters to you. I wrote a detailed post on all the reasons we need to stop trying to do it all, you can find it here. Learning to let go of doing it all will quickly help you keep your life balanced.
8. Evaluate on a Regular Basis
As seasons of life change, so do our priorities. If we just go through our normal routines and do what we do because it’s what we’ve always done, our lives can get out of balance without our realizing it’s happening.
In order to maintain balance in your life, regularly re-evaluate your priorities. Then ask whether your top priorities are getting the attention they deserve.
If you find that your priorities are different or not getting the attention they should receive, make the necessary changes to keep balance in your life.
Bringing balance to your life isn’t always easy and you will not achieve it perfectly. But I hope these tips help you to keep your life balanced more often.
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