7 Daily Habits to Balance My Day

(And My Life)

Carlo Cruz
Writer and Artist Read full profile

  Share
  Pin it
  Tweet
  Share
  Email

We live in a success-obsessed world. Many of us chase after success in our careers or

business at the expense of family, relationships, health, and spirituality. We fail to
understand that success cannot be compartmentalized. When one area of your life
suffers, all the other areas will follow suit sooner or later. If you want to be successful in
life, and not just in your career, you need to strive for balance.

The good news is that you can get closer to balance in your life with 7 very simple daily
habits:

1. Start your day with prayer or meditation

Achieving balance in your life starts with your personal choice and decision to change
the way you live your life. It requires your attitude and discipline to make it happen.
That’s why achieving balance in your life requires that you have a very strong core. If
you don’t like who you are, where you are, or what you do, chances are you won’t like the
other areas of your life either.

Make it a habit to start your day by praying or meditating. Praying or meditating in the
morning helps you feel that you are more than you think you are, that you can do more
than you think you can, and that there is more to life than what you’re currently doing.
Connect with yourself, know yourself, affirm yourself more, and understand that you are
meant for greater things.

2. Be fully present when you’re with your family

Family life is the area most often associated with work-life balance. Having a great
family life is like the pinnacle of achieving work-life balance. After all, it is your family
who sticks with you through thick and thin. When all is said and done, some friendships
fade, but your family will remain.

Start making a difference in the world by first making a difference in your family. Spend
more quality time with them. Eat breakfast with them. Be more physically and
emotionally present in their lives. Do one thing with your family today in which
you’re fully engaged. Yes, you can make a huge dent in other people’s lives, but start
small by making a dent and being more involved in the lives of the people already
around you.

3. Reach out to one person you already know

In business, having a strong network helps you spread the word about your company. It
also helps you get more things done. In your personal life, a strong network helps you
grow in the different areas of your life. Which is another way to help achieve balance. By
expanding your network and building strong connections, you get to learn from other
people, widen your perspective, and even stretch your vision for your life.

Everyday, contact at least one person you already know. It’s always easier to start
expanding your network with someone you already know. Tell that person what you’re
up to and ask if there’s anything you can help him or her with. Then, ask that person if
he or she can help you with something, even something as simple as spreading the word
about what you’re doing. People are willing to help more than you think. Asking for help
also builds trust. To keep the ball rolling, don’t forget to ask if he or she can introduce
you to someone who can help you as well.

⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄

How Fulfilled Are You In Your Life?

If you want to stop struggling and live life to the fullest, Lifehack has a solution for you.
Take the Full Life Assessment
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄

4. Spend fifteen honing your expertise

For Bill Gates, it was computing. For Michael Jordan, it was basketball. For Albert
Einstein, it was theoretical physics.What did these three successful gentlemen share?
They knew what they were great at.

If you want to succeed in life, excelling at one thing is a must. It’s better to be great at
one thing and suck at everything else than to be average at everything.

Spend at least fifteen minutes each day improving what you’re already good at. If you’re
into blogging, spend fifteen minutes reading articles on websites like Problogger. If
you’re good at marketing, spend fifteen minutes studying the latest marketing tools and
trends and visiting blogs like Seth Godin’s. If you’re great at sports, by all means,
practice! Whatever you do, make sure you strive to become better each day.

5. Do something creative
Even though the left-brain, right-brain dominance theory has been debunked, [1] the
world still enthrones activities attributed to the left-brain, such as logic and
measurement,  while “right-brain” activities like creative pursuits get short-changed.
Most jobs today require analytical thinking more than creative thinking. Many people
also deem creative pursuits impractical and give up on them.

No matter what your job is, you should keep going after creative pursuits. If you’re
employed or if you have a business, create a plan to get more customers, to get more
things done, to introduce more products, and to grow the business. Notice how your
blood will get pumping and your adrenaline rushing. Only “right-brain” activities or
creative pursuits have that effect in our lives. More importantly, it is only through
creative pursuits that you stretch your vision and redefine what’s possible for your
business and for life.

If you’re more of an artist, engage in creative activities that excite you like drawing,
painting, playing music, writing music, animating, writing a story, or even starting a
blog! It helps achieve balance in and add color to your life after a long, monotonous,
“left-brain” dominant day.

Don’t just control, using your analytical “left-brain.”Create using your “right-brain” as
well.

6. Take a 30-minute walk

The first five things you need to do each day focus on your emotional, relational, and
personal success. But, in order to achieve and enjoy all those successes, you also need to
succeed in the area of your physical health. You cannot enjoy all the success you’ve
worked so hard for if you’re lying sick in bed.

Make it a habit to get yourself moving. Take a 30-minute walk, [2] go to the gym, take
Zumba classes, or even stretch for ten minutes after every hour of sitting down. Just get
yourself moving! There are so many different benefits from physical activities [3] and so
many different ways to do it. Find what works for you and do it consistently. Small,
consistent action beats one big effort followed by a big crash every time.

7. Do one thing to reach out, give back, or pay forward

We all know the expression, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Whatever successes you
are enjoying right now, you didn’t achieve them on your own. You were given unique
opportunities by your parents, your family’s history and background, different
circumstances, the people you met, and “angels” you’ve encountered along the way.
Success is not only a personal achievement. Success is also being given many
opportunities to succeed.

Unfortunately, not everyone was given the same opportunities you were given.

If you are reading this article, chances are you are living a more privileged life than
many others out there who don’t even have internet access. Be that small flicker of hope
to someone today. Be the “angel” who will give that person the same opportunity that
you had. No matter how you help, whether in educational, business, or even financial
support, keep in mind that what you’re giving someone is an opportunity to succeed.

Helping someone also doesn’t have to be big right away. You can start small by simply
reaching out and giving that person an opportunity to have an emotional support in you.

Finally, Malcolm Gladwell put it very nicely in his book, Outliers: The Story of Success:

“Because we so profoundly personalize success, we miss opportunities to lift others onto

the top rung… We are too much in awe of those who succeed and far too dismissive of
those who fail. And most of all, we become much too passive. We overlook just how
large a role we all play—and by ‘we’ I mean society—in determining who makes it and
who doesn’t.”

Put It on Paper and Take Action

Now that you’re finished reading, don’t let your own ideas of achieving balance in your
life slip away. Write them down, make a clear, actionable plan, act on it, and live a
remarkable and more balanced life.