Take Charge Get Results

Chapter 11

BALANCE

“Maintaining balance is vital to the accomplishment of your long term goals and the realization of a true and lasting success.”

The need for balance is evident all around us, in nature, in music, in sports, in business and everywhere else we look. In order for a garden to grow, it needs the right balance of fertilizer, sun, shade, and water. In order for an orchestra to produce beautiful music, it needs the right balance of instruments, rhythm, melody, and harmony. In order for a team to win, it needs the right balance of offense, defense, individual skill, and teamwork. In order for a business venture to be successful, it needs the right balance of supply, demand, sales, and profitability.

Achieving great results requires balance, and taking a good look within ourselves should produce that same evidence. In order for us to grow, produce something beautiful, to win, and be successful realizing our dreams, we need to find the right balance in our own lives between work, family, friends, and community. In order to achieve real success, we need to keep our balance physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually.

Understanding is the Key

Balance is a state of being, a combination of all the aspects of your life, that when put together, leave you with a sense of rightness, fulfillment and happiness. When you feel happy, confident, upbeat and positive, like you’re on the right track, like everything’s coming up roses, like nothing can stop you now or like all is right with the universe – that’s balance.

Understanding is the key to achieving balance in your life – understanding who you are, what you want, where you are going, and how you are going to get there. By reading, and working through Take Charge – Get Results to this point, you have been deepening your understanding of these very things.

You have redefined success on your own terms, and put on the right sized boots. You understand the meaning of leadership, and have decided to take charge. You have unleashed your desire, raised your self awareness, and established a vision for your life. You have a sense of purpose, and have made a decision to act. You have set goals, and outlined your success. You believe in the possibility of your success, and have made a real commitment. You have turned your outline for success into a strategic plan, and decided to get busy implementing your plan. You understand that problems are a part of life, and have made a choice to face problems head on. You have done all these things, and as a result, not only do you have the understanding necessary to make good decisions and take action that is consistent with your true self, but you have the understanding to achieve real balance as well.

Sometimes we achieve balance by design, and sometimes we achieve balance by accident. Regardless of how it’s achieved, to have balance in our lives is a very good feeling. Wouldn’t it be terrific, from this point forward, to sustain that feeling of balance, that rightness with the universe? You bet it would! Maintaining balance is vital to the accomplishment of your long-term goals and the realization of a true and lasting success. The good news is you can learn to maintain your balance with the right amount of focus and effort. You already understand the need for balance, know what balance is, and know how to achieve it, so learning to maintain your balance is the next logical step.

Maintaining Balance

Life experience is a good teacher, and there are lessons to be learned in everything we do. To gain insight into how we might better maintain balance in life, let’s examine a failed attempt at log crossing and consider how to apply any lessons learned. In this exercise, you’ll be the one walking across the log, so prepare your mind, get ready, and visualize the following:

You survey the log, noting the width and surface condition, and identify potential obstacles where it looks slick or has branches sticking up that could cause you to trip. You choose a strategy for how to place your feet, either to place one foot in front of the other or to walk across with your toes pointing outward, so as to give you more stability. You then step onto the log and begin to move across, slowly, arms slightly outstretched, making sure you stay centered and balanced on the log as you move forward.

As you approach the halfway point, just as your confidence is growing, you think to yourself, or maybe somebody watching you says, “Don’t look down!” And then what happens? You look down, of course. As your body begins to tilt heavily to one side, your arms shoot straight out, your knees bend sharply, your butt shoots out in the opposite direction for counterbalance, and for one brief moment, you smile as you feel your weight come back to center over the log. Just enough time for a mental, “Whew, that was close!” before you realize your weight still has momentum from the counterbalancing butt-shot you so skillfully employed just seconds earlier.

Suddenly, you snap to attention, jerk your butt back over the log, lock your knees, dig your toes in and strain with all your might, hoping to freeze and stabilize your position of balance atop the log. You know, instinctively, that staying on the log requires you to maintain your balance, and that in order to maintain your balance you must be centered over the log. If you didn’t know that before, you certainly know it now.

You strain with all your might to stop your body from swinging to the other side of the log, and just as you think you have it under control, your shoulders begin to tip. It’s almost like slow motion, the way a tree that’s being cut down begins to fall, and off in the distance, somewhere deep in your mind, you hear a logger yelling, “Timmmberrr!”

Physically, there is not much you can do at this point, because your last maneuver has left you with your toes curled, knees locked, legs straight, and arms sticking straight out. You’re as stiff as a board, and are sure to fall off the log if you don’t act quickly. So before your second shoulder makes it past center, you do the only thing you can at this point; you twist your upper body sideways.

Now you have your feet and legs facing forward, your upper body turned sideways, your arms sticking straight out, a little less stiff, but still tilting past center. If this isn’t bad enough, you’ve begun to bend at the waist. You may have realized by now that you are in trouble, and that some major adjustments are required if you are going to stay on the log.

At this point, you decide to change your footing. With one quick jump you turn both feet so they are facing in the same direction as your upper body, and now you feel better having all of you lined up again. But you still have some problems; you are still bending at the waist, and although you have regained forward momentum, you are facing sideways on the log.

Now you are back to bending your knees and thrusting your butt backwards in a grotesquely awkward, and not very effective counter-balancing maneuver. Suddenly, you remember you have arms, and with that, begin to swing them, slowly at first, then faster, now frantically, wildly, spinning them like airplane propellers, in hopes of flying back into position on the log, but that doesn’t work either.

Finally, you realize you have completely lost your balance. There you are, perched in the middle of a log, toes curled, bent over at the waist, head down, arms flailing, butt sticking up in the air, and knowing you’re about to fall.

Can you relate to the experience of walking on a log and falling off about half way across? Have you ever seen someone doing the “funky chicken” while they struggled to keep their balance? Has your life ever felt like being up on that log?

Let’s compare your walk across the log with your walk through life to find the similarities.

Surveying the log, identifying obstacles and developing a strategy for how to successfully get to the other side is similar to looking at your life, determining what you want, where you are going and making a plan for how to get there. The log represents the path you’ve chosen.

Taking your eyes off of where you’re going, when you’re half way across the log, is similar to getting distracted by things that cause you to lose sight of your vision.

Regaining your balance on the log, only to lose it again as the momentum from your counterbalancing butt-shot pulls you off balance in the other direction, is similar to overcompensating for problems by taking extreme measures that create a whole new series of problems.

Easy as 1, 2, 3

There are three keys to maintaining balance. These simple concepts will help you achieve a higher degree of success in every area of your life.

1. Choose Your Path
Know what you want, and where you are going.
Then develop a plan (a road map) for how to get there. Following a specific path will keep you from leaning too heavily in the wrong direction.

2. Don’t Look Down
Ignore distractions that pull focus away from your vision. Keep your eyes on where you are going.

3. Make Small Adjustments
If you begin to feel yourself losing balance, instead of over-reacting, be thoughtful in your approach. Take a step back, recognize your need for balance, and re-focus on your vision. Then make minor corrections, and bring yourself gently back into balance.

As you move forward, understand and recognize your need for balance. Seek to achieve the right balance for your life (physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, work, home, community, family, and friends) by knowing who you are, what you want, where you’re going, and how you’re going to get there.

Let life be your teacher, and maintain your balance by applying what lessons you learn. Choose your path, stay focused on your vision, and make small adjustments. It’s that simple. And if you should fall, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, take what you can learn, and get back on your log.

George J. Morse
Email: george@coachmorse.com
http://www.coachmorse.com