Time Balance: The Key to Sustaining Yourself and Your Productivity!

Time BalanceTime balance is a key component in your tool box of time management skills.  Many people believe that productivity is best maintained by being busy all the time.  In fact, this couldn’t be farther from the truth!

Your productivity is predicated on staying focused and keeping your energy and motivation from flagging.  And time balance is precisely the tool for accomplishing that.

Here’s a question I recently received from a reader of The Time Finder that illustrates this common predicament.  Beth from St. Louis wrote:

I find that I just can’t slow down, and I feel exhausted most of the time.  Almost always, I drive myself to achieve and get things done as soon as possible.

I see anything that pulls me away from what I should be doing as wasting time.  So my question is, how can I ever take time for activities that I know are probably good for me but aren’t absolutely productive and necessary?

Time Balance is the Key

My response to Beth outlines the ways that creating and maintaining time balance will help keep her going, and I wanted to share it with you, too!

Dear Beth,

I hear your frustration about the way that you drive yourself.

It is essential that you allow time for relaxing activities that aren’t directly related to work. In order to be most productive, you need to change your pace, your focus, and your energy frequently throughout the day.  This is what I call time balance, and here are some ways to achieve it for yourself:

  • Alternate a tasks where you are passively sitting at your computer with ones where you are active. When you move your body you move your energy.
  • Approach your non-work activity with openness, gratitude and compassion, and not with harshness or urgency.
  • Set aside a time every day for exercise and relaxation. I routinely exercise in the earlier part of my day.  This helps to balance my energy and ground me, so I begin my work with enthusiasm.
  • Specifically, consider something like this:  With every hour of sitting, I take 10-15 minutes to move and re-energize myself.  Going outdoors or playing with my “puppies” helps me counterbalance my work energy.
  • Start small and build from there.  Try to make one small change for a week and document what you notice.
  • After your routine becomes second nature, encourage yourself to add something else to your day.

Most importantly, when it comes to time balance, or anything, for that matter, be gentle and kind to yourself!

Warmest regards,

Paula

Time Balance Works.

The thing about time balance is that each and every time you step away from your work or change your pattern, it’s like awakening your mind, body, and spirit.  You come back to whatever you were doing with a feeling of renewal.  That, in turn, allows you to be much more productive than you’d otherwise be.

Of course, focus, too, is key.  So it is vital that your breaks be time-limited and you return to your task in whatever time-frame you’ve given yourself.  Not only does this maintain your time balance, it also builds and sustains self-trust!

So, as you enhance your effectiveness with time balance, are you drawn to explore Heart-Based Time Management™ more deeply?  I invite you to access Secrets of Heart-Based Time Management™ – my chapter in the book I co-authored – Stepping Stones to Success!  In it you’ll learn about my proven system for harnessing the power of your mind, your body and your spirit to help you deepen your experience of time and of your life.  You can give yourself the gift of this wonderful resource today, and get started on your journey toward success, Stepping Stone by Stepping Stone …just click this link to get the details!

Comments

  1. Hi Paula – I don’t know how you manage to write about exactly what I need to hear when I need to hear it, but you do! Thanks so much! Amazing how tangled I can get in my own “discipline” and lose sight of what I need… but there’s always a way through, and your blog posts are a huge help.

  2. Hi Alison –

    I am so glad that you found this post timely and helpful. I appreciate your insight about your ‘discipline’ and how it can sometimes stand in your way.

    Good luck untangling the tangles, as your days unfold!

    Best,

    Paula

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