Balance

4 inches wide, 16 feet long, and 4 foot high.  Those are the dimensions of a gymnastic balance beam.  An apparatus that decides the all round winner in women’s gymnastics.  At some point in the all around rotation, the competitors must complete a 90 second routine that consists of tumbling passes, leaps, turns, mounting and dismounting.  A fall from the beam could mean the difference of a gold medal, and not placing at all.

The key to winning a gold medal is balance.

Balance is a key to more than gymnastics.  Balance is the key to success in your own life.  All work and no play makes for a very stressful life.  All play and no work makes for a stressful life.  There has to be a balance.

My current employment demands a lot of my time.  I’ve been all work and no play for several weeks running.  A couple of weeks ago my daughter gave me a call on my cell phone. 

“Dad, can we BBQ when you get home from work?”

That sounded great, “Sure, as long as we are not cooking hamburgers.”

I hear her talking to my wife, then she comes back on the phone, “Can we have a fire and do Smors?”

“That sounds like a lot of fun,” I reply.

                 

I was able to wrap up what I was doing and headed home.  It was interesting because the rest of the day went a lot smoother, I was looking forward to BBQing something (other than hamburgers) and making Smors.  So when I got home we set up a picnic in the back yard, got a fire in the fire pit, and the grill going, my wife made a potato salad, and I got the meat on the grill.  Lawn chairs, card table, food, the impromptu cookout was just what I needed.   It got me to thinking about balance in life.  I work hard, and I am hopeful that the hard work will pay off down the road and I’ll have a bit more free time later, and I can get that balance I am looking for in my own life.

Yet having those play plans set in motion did so much for my own attitude at work.  That work life balance.  We are all on a balance beam, only 4” wide.  If we can balance our professional lives, with our personal lives we can find some of that all elusive happiness everyone keeps seeking.

What are some of the things you do to find your balance?

Blog Hopping Meme

A while back I interviewed Amy Jarecki.  We've been in contact from time to time, and retweeted each others tweets.  She tagged me last week for another Meme.  So here are the questions and my answers to her Blog Hopping.  I've listed who I'm taging and I'll let them know they get to participate.  If you're tagged copy the questions and answer them on your blog and tag other folks to do it on their blog.  BTW if you weren't tagged but would like to do this on your own blog, consider yourself tagged!

Blog Hopping Meme

  1.  What is your dream vacation?

Just taking a vacation. I haven’t’ been on one in years.  Okay, I’ll bite.  Since this is a dream money is no option.  I’d love to go to the mountains, tour castles and stay in five star hotels in rooms with grand views, and eat in great restaurants.

  

   2. Are you spontaneous or do you like to plan ahead?

      Both!  I know not a valid answer.  I like to plan things out, and work towards things.  Goals are great, but there are days where the sun is shining and there is a moment when hey, let’s go do something.  There is a lot to be said for spontaneity. 

   3. Tell us one thing you want to do but don’t dare to do.

Skydive

   4. What’s your biggest phobia?

Losing my family to some sort of accident

   

   5.      If you were stranded on a desert island – what 3 things would you want with you (not including laptop, or family).

Okay, I’ll go with a good sharp knife, fishing gear, and a ham radio.

     

   6.      Name three blessings in your life.

      My faith, my family, my friends

 

   7.      What was your nickname in High School?

      Fortunately I didn’t have one.

   8.      If you could meet the President of the United States, what would you say to him?

      The constitution is still in force.  The Government works FOR the people, not the other way around.

    9.      If you could be any literary character for a day, who would you be?

          I'm not sure I want to be a literary character.  Their stories are so full of tragedy I think I'll just stay me and be happy.

   10.  What is your favorite quote?

“When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging.” Will Rogers

Tag seven other bloggers

I'll start off with the Blog Ring of Power Members:

Dawn G. Sparrow - Write Away 

E.M. LaBonte - The Realms of a Fantastical Mind

TBruce - Terri Bruce Net

Sandra Ulbrich Almazan - Speculative Fiction Author

T.W. Fendley - TW Fendley.com

Next I'll add another friend From AQC who has just started blogging, so to let everyone know her and check out her blog here is Kalinda Knight

Lora Palmer has a nice blog. You should check hers out.

And I'm also going to tag Suzanne Payne a proud member of the goat posse, she loves memes.  Have Fun!

Here are the questions you can cut and copy to use for your own blog:

Blog Hopping Meme

      1. What is your dream vacation?

2. Are you spontaneous or do you like to plan ahead?

3. Tell us one thing you want to do but don’t dare to do.

4.  your biggest phobia?

5. If you were stranded on a desert island – what 3 things would you want with you (not including laptop, or family).

6. Name three blessings in your life.

7. What was your nickname in High School?

8. If you could meet the President of the United States, what would you say to him?

9. If you could be any literary character for a day, who would you be?

10. What is your favorite quote?

Tag seven other bloggers

Time Tip - Another tool to keep your life organized and effective.

I’ve covered using a calendar, having one to put all your activities on. I’ve also talked about color coding activities to help keep yourself organized. There is another tool at your disposal, if you are on line a lot and are always into your e-mail and love getting updates. This nifty online gadget is the Google Calendar.

If you use Google a lot check out their calendar. The advantage with online calendar it will work with you online systems. It sends e-mail reminders for your appointments. It has colors so you can color code your activities.

Because Google Calendar is online you can access it from any computer. This gives added flexibility and ease of use, two key factors in using anything. True there is a learning curve, and yes it does take up some time to use it, however, the benefits outweigh the time frame. So if you are wired and busy, take a look at using the Google Calendar, it may be the tool you need to finally get it all together.

Thursday's Time Tip: Take Time to Plan

I’ve tried to keep my life organized. Sometimes I am more successful than other times. I’ve also read several books on time management, and tried to internalize what I’ve read. I’ve ran across two views on how to approach time management. I’ve tried both, and both work. So it becomes a point of personal preference. The two approaches are daily planning, and weekly planning. One approach focus on your values and goals the other approaches the roles you play in life and how to strengthen those roles.

What both approaches have in common is taking time to plan. Steven Covey’s book on Seven Habits of Highly Successful People talks about renewal. The story he tells also applies to taking time to plan.

I’ll paraphrase the story here. The person telling the story tells about seeing a lumberjack cutting and cutting on a tree. It took a long time to cut down the tree. Then he was getting set to cut then next tree.

“What is taking so long to cut down the trees?” he asks the lumberjack.

“My saw needs to be sharpened,” he replies.

“Why don’t you sharpen the saw?”

“I don’t have time; I need to cut down more trees.”

It is obvious that taking time out to sharpen the saw will save energy and be more productive. We need to take time to sharpen our saws. Renewal as Covey explains, or as I like to think of it, a few minutes at the start of the day to plan what needs to happen, or at the end of the day to map out what you want to accomplish tomorrow is very important.

The other approach is taking time to plan out a week. Pick a day and a time to plan. During your planning session look at your different roles, mother/father, boss/employee, friend. Look at your relationships and what needs to be done. List what needs to happen for the week and plan days, and times those things will happen.

Both approaches take some self discipline, commitment from yourself to yourself. However, the investment makes for achievement. Completing those things you want to accomplish. Delivering on your promises to others. Making deadlines. Those are the some of the keys to feeling fulfilled.

Take the time to plan. Next week I’ll look at the daily approach to planning.