Like Everything Else, It’s a Choice
Last week we discussed being busy. It’s easy to find ourselves with too much to do. There are just so many important and fun things that need done. This leads to burnout.
It’s all too common for people to get burnt out.
I’ve seen this happen a lot over the years. One place this happens as much as any is in the church. There’s no work any more important than that. When we have a desire to help it can take over our lives … and burnout is the result.
I know this, because I’ve been there.
This is why it’s important to BUILD a well-balanced life.
Finding and maintaining the balance in everything is one of my core values. Finding and maintaining balance is what keeps a busy life from crashing.
Balance in life is more than just two things. It’s not like a set of scales with one thing on each side. Life is full of a whole lot of things. Life balance also doesn’t mean an equal amount of time and energy spent on each to the things.
I see BALANCE as a large platform centered on top of a small point. Without anything on the platform, it is level. When one thing is placed on top of the platform near the center, things go pretty well, and it stays relatively level.
As more things are put on the platform and things begin to be crowded out from the center, it starts to get heavier at different areas. This causes the platform to lean. If one heavy thing–or too many things–are moved too far from the center, the platform will tip far enough that things will fall off.
Keeping things on the platform is all about weight and location.
Our lives are like this platform. God has balanced our platform perfectly on this point and given us the responsibility of keeping it there. The difficult part of this obligation is the number of things we get to choose to put on our platform.
The choices are endless. There is spiritual, family, work, friends, fun, community, etc. Each of these areas are full of an endless number of specific things that we can put on our platform. Some things carry more weight than others. As we go through life the things we have on our platform will, and should, change.
FINDING AND MAINTAINING THE BALANCE is a responsibility given to us. Will we be perfect at it? No. Can we learn and get better at it? YES!
If you want to BUILD a well-balanced life, then you need to do something. A well-balanced life doesn’t just happen.
Here’s an acronym to help you BUILD a well-balanced life.
B is Being Aware – A well-balanced life starts with being aware of the problems that come from being out-of-balance and that it’s even possible.
U is Understand – It is the mental grasp or comprehending of something. It is the knowledge about a situation, how something works or what it means. You need to understand what balance is and what it takes to get it.
I is Intentional Action – This is the most important. If you don’t do something, nothing will change. This is where most people get hung up. To this point, everything sounds great. Intentional action requires ACTION.
L is Learn – This is the step that will take the longest. Construction of buildings isn’t instantaneous. You don’t show up on a job site your first day knowing everything about building. You come back the second day and LEARN more and the third and the fourth. And years later you have LEARNED how to build. And you will continue learning for the rest of your life.
D is Delivery of the Dream – This is where all the hard work pays off. It’s where you can still be very busy, but your life is balanced. You are in control of the things you say yes to … and the ones that you say no to.
It feels really good to be in control of your life and your business.
Building a well-balanced life include a well-balanced business. To help with this we have some business BUILDing tools, systems, and services that can help you. If you have questions about getting your business balanced you can schedule a free 30-minute consultation.
