You may be wondering what relevance that story about my daughter and her curriculum crisis has to do with you and the “real” crises you have to deal with at home and at work.
I’m not willing to run the risk of you missing the point, simply because I’m assuming you got it, so pardon me if I explain a bit further. (And the reason I’m not willing to run that risk is that getting this point is key to learning how to change any condition in your life—at home or at work. Any condition. Without it, you render yourself powerless to change much of anything.)
Okay, Ric, so what is the point?
Simply this: You have the power to change any situation—including your Life Balance Equation—by applying intention and attention to making it change. That’s it. That’s all.
“Well, how exactly does one do that?” you might ask.
Consider this: another way of saying “applying intention and attention” is “practice,” not as in “to practice,” but as in “a Practice.”
Here are three easy steps to developing a Practice to deal with any situation:
Step 1: Stop focusing on what’s wrong with the situation.
(In this “everyone-on-the-planet-now-knows-’The Secret’” world, do I really have to explain why? If you don’t know what this is, click here: THE SECRET.)
Step 2: Listen to yourself when you answer the question, “What do I want here?”
Believe it or not sometimes this is the hardest step because we don’t necessarily know what we do want, but we’re often sure of what we don’t want. If you find yourself in that frame of mind here at Step 2, then go back to Step 1 and keep going back to it until you are able to focus on what you do want.
Step 3: Design a plan to get from where you are to where you want to be.
Ask yourself, “What set of activities—if I am disciplined about doing them—is best calculated to lead to the result that I want?” That’s your plan.
And, a plan executed with discipline, becomes a Practice.
One last thing: If and when you fail to keep a Practice up, forgive yourself immediately and get right back on the Practices wagon. There’s neither time nor energy to be expended on excuses or guilt.
Practice your Practices and be prepared to be surprised—remember, Practices make perfect . . . and then some!