Balance in this roller coaster world: Attainable or Not?

To grow in wisdom he went to see a Sage,who said he should walk around his (the Sage) mighty mansion and come back in the evening to give his view about what he saw but he must go around with a teaspoonful of oil which he mustn't spill.

He went round but paid no attention at all to what he saw because his gaze was fixed on the spoon to avoid the oil spillage. He met the Sage later who asked questions that have obvious answers but he couldn't,the Sage sent him back to go round and pointed out specific things he should watch out for. He went round,this time he beheld the mansion in its beauty and was still recovering from the euphoria when he met the Sage again who asked him some questions. This time he could answer,but the oil in the spoon is gone.

Success is the ability to combine everything together without making one suffer for one.

There is no one-size-fit-all way to cope with stress and attain balance. But these five ways would be pointers in the right direction:

1. Identify key areas that needs utmost attention. Some things clearly need more attention than some others,and recognizing them makes all the difference. This might differ from individual to individual and even differ from time to time for same individual. An ambitious, unmarried woman would pay more attention to work and things that pertains to her career growth than to any other thing, but once she is married, priority changes. Whereas the level of commitment that an employee might likely give to a job would be different from the commitment a job owner would.

2. In a book by Scott Adams, he established that "goals, no matter how clear, have two problems: they’re future-oriented, and they’re overly specific. All goals are situated in the future, but in order to achieve them, you must do work in the present. And when you begin working toward a goal, you usually won’t see immediate results. This can be frustrating and discouraging. That’s why systems, which are firmly grounded in the present are preferable. Unlike goals, systems are focused on the here and now and can be worked into your daily life, meaning that you can get daily pleasure from successfully operating them."

Take for example, you want to have your house clean and sparkling by Christmas, first, cleaning is relative, you have to determine what clean means to you. Success as well as failure is relative,you have to determine what each means to you. Assuming you have figured out what clean is, maybe it involves disposing the garbage, mowing the lawn, fixing the leaking roof and having everywhere sparkling and spotless. If you set it as a goal, that would connote falling short of anything of what you have in mind would bring disappointment and maybe lack of fulfillment, but rather, working with a system would be that you pay attention to the next place you dump your boots, or where you lay the grocery bag when you get home this evening because ultimately this will lead to a sparkling house.

3. Balance is a process not a final destination. It's something no one can fully attain but constantly working towards and improving on.

4. Failure and Success is relative. As briefly stated in point 2 above, what connote success or failure to you might not be for others, so look at what works for you. Determine what you consider as not being up to par in your strive towards balance. Then also keep in mind that failure is a part of success, so when you think an area is suffering from another, it might not necessarily be a failure,it might be a pointer to some salient issues or even a wake up call to adjust and keep going.

5. Be accountable to someone. Another term for this is Reassessment but in this case having someone that can help hold you accountable for what you get things done, how they are done and when they are done is extremely important.

Ultimately balance is achievable, when we put our mind to it.

Extracts from Adam Scott Book