The Secret to Work/Life Balance That No One Ever Told You About

Have you ever wondered why is at the end of some weeks you thought you were productive, but you look back and realized that you haven’t done anything to move you forward in your purpose or goals? Maybe you sit down at the beginning of the week with your best intention to write a to-do list only to make it to the end of the week with the biggest to-dos still hanging over your head. Well, we’ve all been there.

On occasion, we have weeks where we are being busy more than productive. Our schedules are maxed out and our to-do lists are filled to the brim, but when we look back at our weeks, what was really accomplished?

This is what happens when we’re not taking time to intentionally design our lives. Before we know it we realize that life is happening to us, it’s in control, while we, on the other hand, are just trying to make it to another day. We’re living in a reactionary manner instead of a proactive one.

For a while, I was living this way in my business. I felt like I was running around each day trying to put out mini fires at work and at a home. While I was at work, I found myself trying to balance new projects while keeping up with the day-to-day in my business and most days I left with an even larger to-do list than I started with. And of course, that spilled over into my evenings when I was trying to fit in more work on top of my household duties. And forget about making time for friends and church activities. I was barely above water!

Then one day I realized that no matter how hard I tried, I wasn’t going to be able to balance everything. At some point, the balls were going to drop. And although I couldn’t do everything, I could focus on doing a few things and doing them well. Hence came, the idea of purposeful priorities. 

Your purposeful priorities are the most important actions that will move you forward in your God-given purpose and goals. They are the actions that are going to give you the most momentum as you design your life. But the problem is that most people don’t start their days or weeks with their priorities, they start them with distractions.

Think about it: at work, you’re not starting your day with your most important projects. You probably spend a few minutes scrolling through your Facebook timeline or watching Insta Stories. You’re starting with the meaningless, mindless stuff, only to go home and do the same thing — watching a few hours of Netflix, chatting with you college best friend and catching up on more Insta Stories. You carry out this routine in some form or capacity from Monday to Saturday to have a freak out on Sunday wondering where all your time has gone and why nothing has been done. Because you focused on mindless activities instead of your purposeful priorities.

When we start our days by prioritizing the meaningless and mindful stuff, we don’t leave any room for the purposeful and important. Immediately, we’re wasting the time that we have to make way in our purpose and goals. And the thing is we may for a brief second think about what we should be doing, but comfort and pleasure take precedence over our calling.

So how can we achieve work/life balance while making strides in our purpose and goals? By determining our top 3 purposeful priorities each and every week. 

On Sundays, set aside some time to intentionally design your week by asking yourself, “What are the top 3 things that I need to do design a life that I and God love?”

Some of your purposeful priorities might look like incorporating self-care, working out, having a regular quiet time, spending time with your family or friends, or working on your goals. Determine the most important actions that will move the needle forward in your life, goals, or business and write the top three down. 

Then take it a step forward, by blocking out time in your calendar for these things first. Ever heard of the saying first things first? Here is where the principle applies.

This is the number one reason why a lot of people get to the end of the week with nothing to show for their time. They fill in their time with distractions, procrastination, and avoidance mechanisms so much that they don’t have time to do the things that are going to fuel their soul, purpose, family, and goals. 

Balance is basically a myth. There is no such thing as ultimate balance, however, there are such things as priorities, and they are the things that will help you achieve harmony in your life.

Are you in a season where you need to bring your life into balance by focusing on your purposeful priorities? Sign up for the free webinar Refresh, Reset, Refocus where I’ll be teaching how you can get back into the swing of your purpose and goals to finish the year strong. Click the button below to register and save your seat.