Balancing Your Life To Unleash True Success

All of us have a dream in life. Whether it is to quit a job, travel the world, make a lot of money, lose weight or to retire early, most of us seek some point in the future where we will experience this happiness and joy. Have you noticed this? Perhaps you know of someone who says they’re going to retire a rich millionaire by the time they are thirty and then travel the world? But when do they seek this point of salvation? It’s always in the future, right?

By the way I’m not about to say that people who seek something in the future are stupid people – no way. There’s nothing wrong with that, in fact I think it’s healthy to have dreams and goals in the future. I’ve just noticed that there are three ways that people head towards their dream and each of them have three very different degrees of success, ranging from complete failure to unstoppable success. You could say that these are three different ‘work ethics’ that they each possess and I am going to cover each in turn. As you read the points try to determine which category that you fall into.

1. The Dreamer + No Action + All Play

It’s very easy to find a person who falls into this category of success. This is the person who has dreams of one day becoming a millionaire but does nothing to help themselves move towards their goal. They think that life is not in their control and that to be successful it’s ALL about being lucky. Due to this belief they spend most of their lives doing nothing to move towards their goals and most of their daily activity revolves around instant gratification (seeking pleasure in the Now). If they were to take any action towards their dreams it would be to go down to their local store and buy a lottery ticket. It’s very depressing to write this, but for most of them they realise that they have wasted their lives when it is too late. They realise that they didn’t work enough and that they played a too hard.

Most of us fall into this category at some point in our lives, usually when we are youthful. We then get a wake up call to get moving and to make things happen, this type of person will then move into the two other categories I am about to discuss. However many never get out of this cycle of constant dreaming and no action – the result, they live an unfulfilled life.

Result: FAIL

2. The Dreamer + Super Action + No Play

This next category is one that I am very familiar with – I’ve spent most of my life in it. The typical person to fall into this category is driven by a tangible goal that will arrive in the future. In nearly all occasions their dream will mostly revolve around becoming a millionaire, starting a business or coming up with some money making machine. Even though all people are driven by goals this person’s desire is at the maximum level possible. Their dream takes priority over all things in their life including relationships, health and relaxation.

This type of person doesn’t mind hard work. They are fully prepared to work hard to reach their dreams and they believe that the harder they work the quicker it will bring them to success. They firmly believe that if they devote enough time and hard work they can reach their goal quicker and then somewhere down the line they will never have to work again for the rest of their life.

As I mentioned before, I used to be a big believer in this idea that the harder we work the quicker the results will come and for so long I was stuck in this mindset – and why shouldn’t I have thought like this? Doesn’t it make sense that if you work hard and get everything done now that you’re then set up for the future? Doesn’t it seem logical that if you can lock yourself away and put all your effort and focus into one thing that in a years time you’ll come out with what you wanted?

It does make sense. The strange thing is, it doesn’t quite work like this (I’ll explain in third category).

And there are further implications of adopting this sort of thinking. What if you never reach your goal? You could be working non-stop having never enjoyed the real fruits of life because you were so consumed with working hard. I spent a good three-years moving from moneymaking scheme to moneymaking scheme. Straight after work I would shut my bedroom door and work until mid-night. I would then get up at 5am in the morning and continue to work on whatever I was working on. During those times I just couldn’t see that my mindset was totally in the wrong place. After all, I heard time and time again that success comes from hard work, I looked at myself and I thought I was doing the right thing. I wasn’t really enjoying it, but then if I were to do anything else, my mind would be back on making money so by doing the tasks it always felt like I was being productive and moving forward. But the reality was I was neglecting other important areas of my life. At the time I just couldn’t see it.

Having this mindset is a very dangerous position to be in, because even if you do achieve your goal (i.e. become a millionaire) there’s a big chance that you will become unhappier.

I’d often hear of stories of how people usually became unhappy after they made a lot of money – I however did not care to hear this. My answer was always;

‘”How can you be unhappy if you have money? I’m prepared to be unfulfilled and unhappy. It doesn’t matter as long as I get the money in the end. I won’t be unhappy like them, I’ll appreciate the money”

How insane was I? How obsessed with money was I? It seems totally ludicrous that I would be prepared to have money even if it would make me unhappier.

When I was in this category I saw some small successes and it was definitely more than if I had been in the first category. However these successes only grew bigger after I started easing off the work pedal. This brings very conveniently into the third category.

Result: Fail (Small chance of success however but unhappiness in the long term)

 3. The Dreamer + Balanced Level of Action + Balanced Level of Play

There are certain types of people who have struck up the perfect balance in how much they ‘work’ and how much they play. It is these people who will become successful in all their endeavours.

Not only the endeavours of becoming wealthy and achieving what they have set out to do, but more importantly they will be more fulfilled in life than any of the previous categories.

The strange thing is even though these people work less hard than the second category; they will reach success more quickly. How could it be that somebody who works less hard can reach success quicker than somebody who dedicates all their time to the cause?

It’s totally counter-intuitive but it’s something I have noticed happening in my life. When I was spending hours and hours of my time on my next money making scheme, I would rationalize that I could achieve all my other plans I had in life after I was successful.

I’d always wanted to get into shape but I told myself, ‘I had no time,’ and besides after I achieve my goal, THEN I’ll start going to the gym. I said to myself, ‘when I reach my goal, THEN I’ll start travelling – or when I reach my goal THEN I’ll go and learn a language. I was living in a scarce world and I wasn’t taking care of myself or the other areas that were important to me. My decision-making was far less effective than if I was abundant and happy. When I started to take care of myself, slowly I became more fulfilled. I started to exercise every day like I always wanted to. I started to read more books and watch more documentaries as I’d always wanted to. I relaxed and saw my friends more. I began to spend less time at my desk working and more time sleeping. Instead of only using my money for countless money making courses and schemes, I invested it in myself through purchasing healthier foods and online personal development courses.

My successes dramatically improved and I made better decisions for my business. I was happier and was more consumed with the idea of creating value rather than just taking from the world.

The most successful people are the people who want to create value in the world and this is where our mind should be if we want success. It isn’t about getting for ourselves, it’s about giving to the world. If we do this then success will come.

Steve Wozniak co-founder of Apple set out to create value in the world rather than to make money for himself, in doing so he has become a multimillionaire many times over.

“My goal wasn’t to make a ton of money. It was to build good computers.” ~ Steve Wozniak

To get your mind into a value creation mode rather than a value extraction mode, you need to have a well-balanced life and attend to all areas that are important to yourself. In this way you are more abundant and happier, and your decisions will benefit others and not just your own. Success will never fail to follow you if you do this.

RESULT: Undeniable & Guaranteed Success

Getting The Balance Right in Your Life

Reaching success is all about getting the balance right between how much you work and how much you enjoy yourself. You don’t want to be too relaxed and never take any action, and you don’t want to take so much action that you unconsciously wear yourself out. You need to strike up a balance where it feels right for you. Getting the balance right doesn’t mean it’s necessarily an even 50:50 split between work and play. For me it was about a 65:35 split. 65% of my time I spent on producing results and the other 35% learning, exercising and investing in myself, to me that 35% is relaxation.

It’s important to also leverage your time the right way. When you neglect other areas of your life there’s a feeling of lack and the feeling will show and manifest in your business or your work. When you’re in a mindset of abundance and giving value then this will show up in all that you do, and you will become successful. Life isn’t just about arriving at a point and being happy when that points arrive. You must enjoy the journey as well, after all that’s where the fun is.

So learn to strike up the right balance. If you work too hard then think about the other areas you are neglecting and if you don’t work hard enough, then start to! Play around with your schedule to make sure you are fulfilled right now.

So what did you think of this rule between balance and play? What’s your ratio? Perhaps you have your own thoughts on this? Please feel free to share your comments below and if you liked this article please share it with your friends or tweet it out to your followers. Thanks a lot!

Photo By Steve-h

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Tagged as: Success