Andrew Black of Heroes on Hand gives his thoughts on work, life and if there really is a balance.
It is in our human nature to want to categorise or assign labels, definitions or structures. We have clocks and calendars. Species and sub-species. Chapters and verses. If things are too open ended, they don’t have real meaning or purpose as far as the human mind is concerned.
What can happen with all this compartmentalisation is that we break things down too far. Work, home, personal, friends, health, happiness and so on. ‘I must perform brilliantly’ in each of these sections of my existence in order to have fulfilment and contentment. No wonder we always feel like its never enough.
We never celebrate our successes in one section of our life because we feel like we are failing in another. Ironically it is self-imposed. But very difficult to shake a lifetime of this type of teaching. It does however start with simply understanding that work, home, personal, friends, health, happiness and so on – are all one. Then also allowing yourself the comfort that todays failure is tomorrows success.
We perform a number of different roles but using any kind of metric to measure human performance (other than in sports) is very difficult and out of context with how we need to behave in order to perform. Certainly, using other business owners or mentors’ methods and behaviours are a good start but you are uniquely you.
Start making choices rather than decisions. When you decide on something it means something else gets disregarded, forgotten or put to the side/on the back burner. When you make a choice. You choose that action. You own it fully. There is no thought to what you didn’t choose, there is only that choice in that moment. This is all language and mindset. A combination of the most powerful fuel you use to lead ONE successful or happy life by your own standards and metrics.
Work life balance? There is only one life. So make choices not decisions.
Find out more about Andrew Black here.
