Finding Balance

One of my favorite movies is The Karate Kid, the 1984 original with Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi. The part that I really liked and hit a resonance with me was near the end when Daniel Larusso is hurt and asks his sansei to “do that thing” with his hands to help him get back into the competition. Mr. Miyagi tells Daniel there is no need, but Daniel tells him he needs to get his balance.

Balance in life. That is a tough one. I struggle with balance right now. My current employment demands a lot of my time and attention. I have children at home, a married son, a wife, and a lot of things I want to do. Work/Life balance is a challenge. So as I build the schedule for the week, and look at what homelife demands are I ask myself this one question: What matters most?

By looking at what matters most it helps me to make decisions on where I need to be. By looking at my priorities, my values the decisions on where I need to be and when become clearer. I do my job. I will be doing the job. Yet I can delegate things to some subordinates and be able to be with the family when that is the most important event.

Next week we’ll look at setting priorities in your life. Looking at what your values are it helps to set priorities and helps you to be able to get that balance in your life. I’ve been out of balance for some time, but I am slowly working at training my assistance to be better, working on my crew to be better. By empowering them, it frees my attention for other things. Then when it is time to go home, I can be home both physically and mentally. Dad at home is so important. Then I can be home when I am home. I can plan my personal time to complete other projects that are important to me.

Balance. Finding balance takes effort, but so worth it in the end. What are the barriers in your life that are keeping you from finding your balance? What steps do you need to take to remove those barriers? What can you start doing today to start down the path to gaining in your balance?