DISQUS

James · 1 year ago

Thank you!

My favourite posts are those that validate my intuition. I've spent so long ignoring it, that every time I read one like this (that makes me think "Yes, I knew it, I just didn't acknowledge it.") it helps me to learn to identify and trust that little voice in my head that actually knows what it's doing.

I believe that a genius idea is one that makes other people say "Of course! Why didn't I think of that? It's so obvious!" So thank you for this genius post.

Clay Collins · 1 year ago

@James: Sincere thanks to you for this very nice comment. I like what your say about intuition. We know a lot more than we think we know, but it can just take so damn long to tap into our intuition (especially when the quiet voice of intuition is competing with so many other factors). Thanks so much for this comment and for stopping by.

Susan Murphy · 1 year ago

Brilliant observation here, Clay. I think one of the reasons that people don't live by this philosophy is that they are not tuned in with themselves. They either depend on outside influences (i.e. the media preaching to them what they "should" be doing to live a balanced life) or they don't pay attention to the needs of their body and mind(so they consistently overeat, undersleep, or work too much, and fall out of balance).

I find that a spiritual practice (meditation, prayer, living in the moment, whatever one chooses) greatly helps me to achieve a heightened state of awareness that allows the natural ebb and flow of balance to come into my life. It's not so much about choosing what needs to happen in my life, but allowing life to flow through me, guiding my choices and helping me to achieve that balance.
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Response

Hi Susan,

I think you're right about lack of "tuning" (into one's self) being a problem. Also, the logistics of life can be a huge issue. Most jobs just don't allow for much flexibility and it can be hard to coordinate family schedules etc. with the varying seasons of so many lives (it's difficult, but it can be done). It also varies so much from person to person.

--Clay

Jared Goralnick · 1 year ago

Nice work, Mr. Collins. I'm looking forward to the season of summer being one of travel & perspective. The workaholics months have been a bit much. . .
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Response

Tell me about it :-). I've actually quite enjoyed the workaholic months and think they might extend into the summer for me. Good luck with the travel and bumming around. I'll look forward to reading about the updates on your blog.

--Clay

JEMi | Tips for Life, Love, Yo · 1 year ago

I feel so.. validated right now. LOL
Nice work with the Ecclesiastes quote Collins

I was thinking the other day.. wondering if I was some degree of inadequate because to fit everything that the 'positive and productive' person would achieve in a day would be difficult for me. I tend to live in seasons. Certain daily additions have been very beneficial for me but its few.

I think it started off with that Stephen Covey interview Leo did on Zen Habits. I respected his ability to do what he could..
But you should seriously see what I started to try to fit in my day.

Over the course of a week like you suggested is tons more doable for me.

And yes, if someone only knows you for a season - not only do they think they know you and would like a valid explanation for the things you have or accomplished (simple - it was a diff. point of my life.. a diff. season), the judgment comes and it can be harsh. Then, you get unsolicited advice and things of that nature lol

My momma would really love this post. So I'm going to send it to her and teach her how to check her email to read it. :)

Oh. and I love it too.
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Response

I love that you're sending this to your mom. That's one of the nicest things anyone could write. Thanks, JEMi.

--Clay

Daniel Richard | Winning Every · 1 year ago

Bible verses!
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Response
Yeah. The Bible doesn't get much real estate on productivity blogs so I try to sprinkle it in now and inbetween Lao Tzu and Budda quotations. :-)

--Clay

Zen Dad · 1 year ago

I find this post rings very true to me. I work 12 hour shifts with a half hour commute each way per day, putting me at 13 hours away from home minimum. I find my balance on my days off spending much time at home with family re "centering" myself. Good post!

http://www.zendad.net

SpaceAgeSage · 1 year ago

I like the way you think! I spent five years being an overly driven leader in a hard-core martial arts school, and now I have the quiet, low-profile life of a writer and care taker for my mom. Your post help kick out any residual insecurities I had about the transition I made. Very helpful, thanks!
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Response
I love this comment. What an interesting transition. Thanks for sharing that.

Mark Dyck · 1 year ago

Great insight! I've long felt at odds with the corporate world because there is no seasonality. Days, months, years click over with tomorrow being just like yesterday.

I'm hesitating with some new business ventures and I suspect it's because of my own seasonality. How to design a business that can vary with my rhythms? Now there's a challenge.

Andre Kibbe · 1 year ago

The tricky part is knowing when a full-on effort, like 18-hour workdays, is a season with some closure to it. As Mark indicated, it's hard to embark a business and know when to let go, since there's always room for growth. At least for entrepreneurs, there are books the The E-Myth and The 4-Hour Workweek that outline timelines for progressively offloading work. It would be interesting to see the same concept applied to binge vacationers, starving artists, and other tracks that risk going more than temporarily off balance.

Mac · 1 year ago

You're so right. And the quote is very appropriate. Nice post :)

Vered · 1 year ago

I used to live in seasons - crazy work schedule, highly stressful court appearances, living on very little sleep and lots of caffeine, and then taking an unstructured long break and traveling for a couple of months. So I completely agree with your ideas.

However, once my kids were born, I did feel that I needed to try and balance things out on a daily basis.

Daniel Richard | Winning Every · 1 year ago

Liked the way you reply to comments by adding a response right at the comments we left behind. You gave a personal touch to it. :)

I'm in a 2 year season thats gonna end at this December, and living on a 12 hr day shifts with another 2 days off for every tour of 2 work shifts done.

Balance to me for this period would be to get to meet up with friends, for a meal, chat, games (just came back from a late dinner with a couple of my friends too! one of whom we met up by coincidence too!) and then coming back home to rest, read up on blogs that I follow, while writing on the simple stuffs in life in the WE blog that I'm running.

20 hrs, 24 hrs, or even 28 hrs days are almost normal to me now. And this kind of schedule has been integrated into a balance life for me this season.

Haha. I can't wait to jump into the next season that starts right at the end of this year. Should be fun. :D

Glad that you mentioned this entry in your blog. Do write on more dude!

Charlie Gilkey | Productive Fl · 1 year ago

Damn, Clay, you stole the quoted verse from under me. I had it planned for Friday! :p

I think you're dead on about seasons, and that's where the standard lifestyle of Americans go wrong. Seriously, where in 50 workweeks are you supposed to transition into a different season? Pre-industrial societies had it a bit easier on this front: without the artificial environments in which we now leave, the natural seasons made them live through different seasons. Whereas you can't grow wheat in December, you can enter data anywhere and anytime there's light and somewhat working air conditioning.

As always, great job.

Tom Stine | Living from Consci · 1 year ago

Hey Clay, well done. It seems to me that no matter how much we pretend otherwise

(1) We are not in control of our lives.
(2) Life will always have the final say.

I've noticed that the people who have their lives the most sorted out, zipped-up tight, and BALANCED are the ones that seem to eventually get the stuffing kick-out of them by life. Everything is in perfect working order then BAM, the apple cart is turned over. Health, financial problems, you name, these things can interrupt the best laid plans.

You've got it right. Balance can be achieved in so many unbalanced ways. We flow with Life, we move with it. We dance to its tune and love its wisdom and rhythm. Much better.

Kaila · 1 year ago

Well said!

I've thought along similar ways for a while now. And I remember mentally comparing what you call seasons of life to my body's cravings for food. I'm glad you're able to explain it so much better than me!

Anyway, it's definitely difficult to justify life seasons to other people who are so caught up in societal expectations. I finished my bachelors degree in December... and ever since I've been having to explain over and over and over, "I'm not at a place where I really feel compelled to be job-hunting right now." And nobody understands what I'm saying.

But I guess that's not important. Thanks for another awesome post!

Marelisa · 1 year ago

When I lived in Italy I knew people who would find temporary work for a couple of months, make some money, and then take a few months and roam around or do whatever they wanted (they work to live rather than live to work). The pilots of the Panama Canal can opt for a plan of working 5 weeks (it's long hours and you can be called to work at any time, whether it be 2:00 p.m. or 2:00 a.m.) and then they get 3 weeks off. During their time off they tend their own small business or travel. So I agree with you that balance can, does, and should have a different meaning for everyone.

Gamy Rachel · 1 year ago

Hello Clay,

Lovely blog you have.

Love this post about life balance and living the seasons of our lives.

I agree that, when living a particular season of our lives, there is no need to answer anyone, but just enjoy the journey and live it, cos this is the season.

I have gone through many such seasons.. and this one I am going through is the best :)

Thanks for the include at Mixx.

Come on over to my blog and visit me when you have some time:)

Blessings,

Gamy
http://www.mindthinksuccess.com

Robert A. Henru · 1 year ago

Hi Clay, this is very interesting article on balance.
People who knows us only in one season will often judge us not as the right person of who we are. That is really encouraging!
Great article!
Robert

P.G. Smith · 1 year ago

I love this post. I've always wondered why I am go-go-go during the summer and want to sleep all winter. I've lived with 'well-balanced' people all my life. No wonder I felt I was going insane! Now I just have to figure out how to find my 'seasons' again.

Chris · 1 year ago

This post actually gives hope to people who work a lot and spend the time with the family during the weekend. I tend to do this and I'm glad that I'm actually somewhat doing this parenting, husbanding, and working thing the proper way.

So what you're saying is balance is finding balance in an imbalance life? Or is it what realy matters is the end result and not the day to day grind?

Brick Andrews · 1 year ago

Some theologians consider that passage from Ecclesiastes to have been a cynical commentary on life. Maybe a "balanced" life is a boring life.

Duff · 1 year ago

I realized once that when I think of balance, I generally picture a scale with equal sized weights on either side. But just as common is a complex moving mobile like this one:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/112/288614924_11...

Those who live simple, static lives tend to think of balance in more simple images and metaphors.

Jenny · 1 year ago

That was a very insightful post, and the comments that followed got me to thinking. I need to listen to my intuition more often, actually I need to find where my intuition has been hiding! I think it has been on vacation for a while, I need to entice it back!

While I may be unbalanced most of the time, it's probably what makes me balanced! Thank you for making me realize it!

J.D. Meier · 1 year ago

Nice fine point on a sticky idea - a seasonal approach to living.

I'm a fan of immersion and the seasons of change. Life's not static.

I used to think more about permanence and holding on, but now it's more about rolling w/the punches and riding the waves.
When things suck I like to think like the seaons and "this too shall pass."
When things are great, I hold on for the ride and I give her all she's got.

One of my friends framed life something like -- be a boy, be a warrior, be a king, be a sage.

Now that I have a lens for business cycles (from The First 90 Days), I see their seasons too - start-up, turnaround, realignment and sustaining-success.

Loraleigh Vance · 1 year ago

Interesting, I've been thinking about balance as well lately. Must be the season for it.

I like what you said tho' about how a well-balance life feels too rigid. For me conformity feels like insanity and non conformity feels normal. Or, something like that.

When I start something new, I'm always obsessive about it. Or is it more PC to say driven? Regardless, I will work on it till my vision's blurry and my neck won't move. That's just me and it's the way I've always been. It usually balances out sometime.

The point is I get the best out of me by just going with the flow. Even if it's not the way others do it. You've got to grab the passion when it arises. That's my balance.

pam munro · 1 year ago

Here's a second for attuning yourself to YOUR OWN rhythms, as opposed to being led around by the nose on the general rhythms of society. It will make you much less frustrated and much more productive. It also may be a bit harder to pull off - but I believe that it's worth it in the long run - if just be being easier on your immune system - which we have to count on for health more and more these days!

Albert @ Headspace (http://tho · 1 year ago

You make some very good points. Especially on the larger cycles of balance. And the link between being obsessed with productivity and hating your job. I find that loving my job AND loving other aspects of my life (exercise, family etc) allows me to achieve the craziest of balancing acts. As St Augustine once said: "Love and do what you will".

Thanks for the deep, thoughtful writing Clay. Keep it coming.

Albert@Headspace

Kenneth King | Destiny Buildin · 1 year ago

Excellent post - definitely my favorite of yours so far. Where ever did we get the idea that life balance had to occur within such tight time frames as days or even weeks? Out of a sense of conformity I suppose. But after reading your post, it's easy to see that the notion of living life as it seems fitting to yourself is so much more liberating than trying to conform to any sense of what might be perceived as "normal" from the outside.

Thanks for the insight Clay!

Liara Covert · 1 year ago

Balance begins and ends as a state of mind.

Lisa Newton · 1 year ago

In your introduction to this post, you used the term "nutritionist." I would take it a step further and use the term "dietitian," a well-respected and highly educated field.

In regards to nutrition balance over the course of a week, you hit the nail on the head. When I worked for a major cities public school system's food program, we used to analysis the Federal Breakfast and Lunch program based on a week's results, not on the daily results.

Based on the rest of your post, I would definitely fit in the insane catagory for my balanced life. In fact, right now, it doesn't have much balance. That's why I like to look at balance from a long term aspect, yearly if necessary.

Thanks for increasing my awareness of life's balance, and causing me to think about my insanity................:)

Pedro · 1 year ago

Clay ,
I translated an article of your blog in my brazilian blog . Go see
http://wwwoqueeisso.blogspot.com/

Congratulations on your blog
Pedro