I Was Feeling Pulled in All Directions
And I wrote a couple of articles about it for the newsletter: one about my desire to make yoga a daily practice in the morning, and one about my “all or nothing” thinking that was pushing me to discard essential business tasks in order to have a more inward life.
Several people have asked how it’s going since then. So here’s the report.
I’m Finding Balance
It took me a couple of worksheets on my business to get clear, but it eventually hit me that it was only my thinking that was out of control, not my business.
I was not a victim of my business at all. I was literally in the driver’s seat pretending not to be the driver.
As soon as I realized this, it became really clear how to make some choices to regain balance.
It all Came Down to Priorities
For the past many years, the priority has been to get a working business established. This meant that I was willing to sacrifice some of my other priorities of having a balanced life. I worked a lot, and my work often spilled over into mornings before work, as well as evenings. Luckily my partner helped keep my workaholic tendencies in check.
But my business has been doing fine for several years. Yet my work habits continued to involve a lot of mornings, evenings, and weekends.
That Changed after the Sahara Retreat in October
On that retreat, I got in touch with my old love of having a simple life, a balanced life, like I had in my youth. One where I do my yoga every day. One where my work day starts at 9:30 AM and ends at 4:30 PM. One where I have ample time for meditation, reading, exercise, and play. Not to mention sleep.
This has been my ideal for years. In my youth I made all these factors a priority. But I was stubborn about it, and I refused to budge from my ideal enough to get a real job. So actually my life was not balanced.
Then, for many years, I went the other direction and made my job everything, while forsaking my ideal routine and balance of life.
But Now I Think I Found a Middle Ground
Since October, I don’t go to my computer until after breakfast. That means the morning until then is free for yoga and meditation. It is becoming one of my favorite parts of my day.
My thinking became so simple once I stopped trying to do business and yoga in the same time slot, and doing neither very well.
Now yoga is the priority in the morning, just as business is the priority in the day.
But I Didn’t Stop There
I’ve always wanted to end my day at 4:30 PM so I can have a nice, long meditation before dinner. But I’ve rarely done it consistently.
When I looked at my priorities, I realized I was doing the same thing in my business day that I was doing in the morning. I was trying to fit several different tasks into a time slot that was too short.
I Was not Being Realistic
So I got realistic, and I figured out exactly how long my different business tasks take. It was way longer than the hours in my ideal business day. So I sorted them according to priority.
I put my highest priority tasks in the morning for the most part, and my lowest priority tasks later on. And I gave ample time to complete each task. I also streamlined a few tasks so that they now take less time.
Now I Get the Most Important Things Done and Do My Best with the Rest
I also say no to a lot of things people ask me because I’m clear about whether it’s a priority or not.
The result is that I end my day at 4:30 PM pretty much every day. And if I do go over from time to time, I don’t stress much about it. The balance I’ve got doesn’t need to be perfect. It’s good enough.
That means I can read, or walk, or play chess with my partner in the evening. And I can actually relax instead of being on the go all the time. To me it feels like balance.
Have a great week,
Todd
“You are your own boss. Even if you have the most menial job in the world, you are your boss. And if you don’t like your job, welcome to The Work.” Excerpt From: Byron Katie. Byron Katie, Question Your Thinking, Change the World
Get two new articles about The Work of Byron Katie every week, plus my checklist for the Judge-Your-Neighbor-Worksheet. Subscribe to the newsletter here.
If you like this article, feel free to forward the link to friends, family or colleagues. Or share the link on Facebook or other social media. If you have thoughts you’d like to share about it, please leave your comments below.
