Reclaim Your Life Balance Priorities - Stop Being Pulled in Every Direction
Life’s responsibilities and daily distractions can often feel like a never-ending Shift-Storm™. This can make it hard to find time for personal goals. It’s important to learn how to prioritize all the things in your life: kids, spouse, family, friends, work, your BIG Dream.
Why Balance Is About More Than Just Work and Life
Each and every one of these things is important and vital to your health and wellbeing, BUT one thing shouldn’t take over your life at the expense of the others. When you can balance these things, life becomes a little smoother. Not to say that the rug won’t be pulled out from under you at times, just to say the road gets a little smoother.
I go back to the teachings of Stephen Covey and his idea of Big Rocks. When you focus on the Big Rocks in your life, those things that are most important to you, all the rest fills in the available spaces. After years of working with clients, I have narrowed the Big Rocks down to what I call the 3-P’s. When these 3-P’s are in balance, life seems to run smoothly…but when they are out of balance…well, shift happens.
So, what are the 3-P’s? They are your:
Personal Life – This includes family and friends, vacations, your home, etc. All the things that make up your life outside of work.
Professional Life – This includes your job, career, or business, and the folks you work with.
Purely You Life – This is the one most people don’t think about…it’s the life you live inside of your own head and heart. The one only you know about. Your thoughts, hopes, and dreams. The things you never share with anyone else.
Signs Your Life Balance Priorities Are Off
If too much of your attention is spent in one portion of your life, the other two will suffer.
We all know, or have seen, that workaholic whose family life crumbles around them. Or the stay-at-home parent with no hobbies who becomes the neighborhood busybody because stirring up drama is the only way they get some fulfillment in their lives. Or even the self-centered individual who has no friends or family because they are so focused on what they want that nothing else matters.
These are folks whose 3-P’s are out of balance. They are focusing only on one area of their life and the other two fall away into nonexistence. These people tend to be unhappy, depressed, and even a little angry. It’s only when your 3-P’s are in balance that true happiness and peace can occur.
Now most people think of Work-Life balance as the key to happiness, but that’s just 2/3 of the picture. It’s really a balance of the tri-pod Work-Life-Internal that gives us a fulfilled and happy life, because if that Internal piece isn’t satisfied it doesn't really matter how good the J.O.B. or home life is…we still feel like we’re missing something.
It’s like that old game Tip-It where you have to either put on or remove things and not have the guy on top fall off.
Ever feel like this? I know I have!
How to Start Rebalancing Your Life Today
When you can prioritize the main thing to focus on in each area of life, Personal, Professional, and Purely You, you are able to identify what fits and doesn’t fit within that focus and say NO to the things that don’t move that priority forward.
This takes a little bit of practice and finagling, but with each intentional move you learn how to balance better. Sometimes you’ll topple and get out of balance, but then there will be those moments of complete balance where life is pretty amazing!
If you’re ready to move from overwhelm to clarity, the first step is identifying your Three Big Rocks, the core priorities that give your life meaning and direction. My free Discover, Define, Dream - 3-Big Rocks worksheet walks you through how to identify your top priorities in each of the three key areas: Personal, Professional, and Purely You. Use it to stop the swirl, find your focus, and finally feel like everything fits.
👉 Download the Discover, Define, Dream - 3-Big Rocks Worksheet now and get back in balance.