⚖️ Finding a balance
Life is all about balance. Anything in excess is never good for us, and the concept of balance can be very different for us. Some have a fast metabolism, so how they balance their diet depending on their goals may be different than someone else. When it comes to people's careers, some might be happy with where they're at, while others in the same situation want to keep climbing the ladder. Some have a family and want to spend more time with them, or maybe a baby is on the way, and now you need to up the household income.
As you can see, there are many different situations that people can be in. How you can achieve a balance with all of those variables can be very different depending on your situation. To achieve that balance, it would be best if you had an intention with the planning of your time depending on your situation and the goals you want to achieve.
🤔 What are your goals?
I feel we all have needs and wants in life. Some are more significant than others. Short-term goals can seem easier to hit, in my opinion. I feel this is because we put in the short-term work, and then we get the immediate gratification of achieving the short-term goal.
Long-term goals, I feel, can be the hardest. We don't get immediate gratification or that dopamine hit we want for achieving something. They can be harder to measure over time due to the complexity of the goal. Because it's more of a long-term plan, people can often lose their motivation due to the consistency of what it will take to get there.
Say you're trying to buy a house. You have to determine how big of a place you can afford, save for a down payment, find a realtor, select the style of home you want, negotiate contracts, close, move, etc. As you can see, there are many moving parts, and as a whole, it's intimidating. So let's break it down into bite-size pieces.
📏 Make the long-term goal a series of short-term goals?
We've been groomed to want that dopamine hit based on today's culture and society. We've come accustomed to it due to the instant gratification we get in the fast-paced world. Everything is about getting things now and faster in a more convenient way. Tech is created every day to achieve this very thing.
How can we get that dopamine hit we crave and love with long-term goals? Break them into short-term goals! With long-term goals, a series of complex short-term things need to happen to make them come to a reality.
The short-term goal: cut down monthly expenses. If you cut out eating/drinking every Friday night, that's an $80 savings. In one month, that's $320 saved. In a year, that's $3,840 in savings. Just by not eating and drinking on a Friday night.
This is by changing only one action. Break each goal into bits and pieces to discover what else you can do to accelerate your progress.
🗓 Put it on the calendar
By putting things on your calendar, you're making time for your priorities, goals, and other things you're passionate about. Make your calendar balanced and sustainable for yourself and your loved ones.
Everything that takes up your time should be on your calendar. All we have in the day is our time. How we choose to use and spend our spare time surrounding our obligations will determine how fast or even if we hit our goals. So calendarize it.
If you have to go to work, take and pick the kids up from school, do groceries, make dinner, help with homework, go to a class, do homework, and study even more after reading. Also, the driving time between all of these things should be on your calendar.
Regarding your spare time, if you want to spend more time with your significant other, your kids, friends, and family, watch a movie, learn a new skill, or anything else. Please put it on your calendar.
📌 Update your calendar as it changes with checkpoints
Life happens. Again, we're creating a plan on where and how we're investing our time to accomplish our goals with a balanced approach. Modern calendars have a drag and drop function to set it for another time if things happen. The task still needs to get done or made up, so drop it into another part of the week or hours in the day to accomplish it. Hold yourself accountable.
Lastly, but most importantly, set checkpoints for each of your short-term goals. Assess how far you got with them with your existing plan. Did you crush it or fall behind? What behaviors made you successful, and what obstacles got in your way? Assess and adjust for the upcoming month depending on what you're trying to achieve and how fast you want to get there.
-RAllanVila