2009 November

How to Balance Your Time – Physically Energetic and Active

Posted On November 30, 2009 Leave a Comment

This is part three of a series on How to Balance Your Time, where we’re looking at the six key types of time we all need in our lives:

Creative and productive

Physically energetic and active

Playful and entertaining

Learning and developing

Reflective and spiritual

Restful and relaxing

Today we’ll take a closer look at the second type of time: physically energetic and active.

We all know that regular exercise is important if we’re to maintain good health. And yet so few of us make it a priority. That was true of me for much of my life.

My biggest problem: I always thought that if I took time to exercise, I’d be taking away valuable time from my family, or productive time from my work. I didn’t understand that exercise could help improve both my family life and work life – that it would re-energize, refresh and refocus me at work, and keep me in good health so I can be around a lot longer for my family.

In the last few years, I’ve discovered some strategies that have helped improve both my outlook on exercise, and my determination in making time for it:

I discovered that I didn’t have to set aside 30 or 40 minutes for exercise at one given time in a day. I could spread it out throughout the day. I’ve learned that doing two or three 10-15 minute work-outs can make a difference. Whenever I start to feel sluggish at work, I take a brisk walk, do some push-ups or other simple Fat Loss Quickie exercises in my office, or run up and down some stairs a few times. It doesn’t take me long to get my heart rate going, and I notice that my mind is more focused and creative as a result.

I learned that I can combine two or more goals for greater results. My goals to exercise, spend more time with my family, and be super productive at work don’t have to be mutually exclusive goals. Frequently, I combine the two by exercising or enjoying some physical activity with my wife and/or kids. For example, my wife and I have begun working out 4-5 times a week using the Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred DVD (Jillian is one of the trainers from The Biggest Loser). And I frequently play basketball, ride bikes, or go swimming with my kids. We have fun, enjoy some time being together, and get some good exercise all at the same time.

Today, exercise is becoming more and more a natural part of my life. But it wasn’t always that way. I had to be more intentional before it could become more natural.

Has anyone else struggled with making time for exercise and physical activity? Or am I the only one?

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How to Balance Your Time – Creativity and Productivity

Posted On November 30, 2009 Leave a Comment

On Sundays I write on Spirituality, Faith and Ethics. I do it because I believe we’re all spiritual beings and have some sort of a moral compass in our lives. You can learn more by clicking here.

Yesterday, I began a new series on How to Balance Your Time, where we’re looking at the six key types of time we all need in our lives:

Creative and productive

Physically energetic and active

Playful and entertaining

Learning and developing

Reflective and spiritual

Restful and relaxing

Today we’ll take a closer look at the first type of time: creative and productive. It’s no secret that most of us focus a majority of our time in this category, because we spend so much of our time at work.

I think it is very natural for us to do that, because that’s how God made us. He made us to be like him as a creator and producer. In the beginning, he gave Adam work to do and called it good.

But he also made us to rest. To maintain a balanced life, we don’t just need a day of rest, though that’s important. We need times of rest and relaxation throughout each day and week. And we need variety.

For most of us, working in the creative/productive realm requires a lot of energy. However, we simply can’t maintain that high energy level forever. We also need times of exercise, entertainment, learning, reflection and rest. We’ll talk more about each of these in future posts over the next few days.

Personally, much of my time each week is spent in the creative/productive category. I love what I do and I could do it all day and night, if I didn’t set limits for myself.

In recent years, I’ve increasingly realized that I can improve my creativity and productivity by taking time off to get some exercise, play, learn, reflect, and rest. It seems counter-intuitive, I know. I used to think that if I just worked harder or longer, I’d get more done. But I’ve discovered this isn’t always the case.

In fact, I’ve learned that if I work too long or hard, my creativity and productivity begins to diminish. When I work too late at night, I start to make mistakes. I can’t think straight.

Now I’m learning to work smarter, not harder, by maintaining balance in my life. I’ve found that I have more creativity when I do exercise and take time to read. I’m more productive when I get a good night’s sleep and take some relaxation breaks during the work day.

I’ve also come to appreciate the meaning of the word “recreation”. It’s not just about playing or doing something just for fun or sport. When we recreate we re-create. Something happens inside us that re-creates the energy and creativity we need.

And above all, I’ve found that the more I acknowledge that my ability to create and produce is a gift from God . . . and the more I seek to do my work and live my life in a time-balanced way . . . the more creative, productive, and successful I am.

This week, as I look over the list of six key types of time, I know I need to schedule some time for learning and developing. I’ve got a stack of magazines and two books that have been waiting for me that I’ve neglected for far too long. The reason why? I don’t have the time – I have work to do. Yeah, right!

But I know that if I take the time to read and enjoy those magazines this week, I’ll get a little re-charge in energy. And I’ll probably get some really great ideas from what I read that I can put into practice. So, I’m blocking out time in my calendar to read those this week.

What about you? Are you all work and no play? Do you find it hard to balance your time by scheduling times for rest, relaxation and recreation? If so, I encourage you to look over the list of six key types of time and pick one or two that you feel would be most important to do right now, and then schedule those into your life this week. Let me know how it goes!

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How to Balance Your Time

Posted On November 28, 2009 Leave a Comment

How do you balance your time? Notice I didn’t ask “How do you manage your time?” or “How do you organize your time?”

We talk a lot here about how to create and maintain balance in our lives, across the seven basic life areas. If we don’t make a conscious effort to live a balanced life, we will tend to spend too much energy in one or two life areas (for many of us, it’s our career) to the neglect of the others.

I recently read an article from Pick The Brain which shared some ideas on how to balance our use of time, across the six key types of time. Again, if we’re not aware of how we use our time, we’ll tend to focus on certain types of time to the neglect of others.

Here are the six key types of time we need:

Creative and productive

Physically energetic and active

Playful and entertaining

Learning and developing

Reflective and spiritual

Restful and relaxing

Over the next few days, I’ll share a definition for each type of time, a report on how I’ve done at balancing my use of time across these six key types, and some strategies for how you and I can utilize each type of time in a way that leads to greater balance in our lives.

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Update – How to Enjoy Holiday Food Without the Weight Gain

Posted On November 27, 2009 Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago, I shared my ideas on how I planned to enjoy holiday food without the weight gain this year. I mentioned that in the past I have frequently gained a few pounds during the holidays due to all the special meals, desserts, parties, etc.

Well, yesterday was Thanksgiving Day in America, the unofficial start of the Christmas eating (and shopping) season. Here’s an update on how I’m doing so far . . .

Earlier in the week I prepared myself by making trade-offs in my diet by eating less (and better) food during regular meals. Knowing this might not be enough to counter-act the extra calories I’d be eating during Thanksgiving weekend, I also increased the frequency and intensity of my exercise routines, with the hopes of speeding up my metabolism. I typically work out at the YMCA in the mornings, but this week I’ve added additional workouts at home in the evenings, using the Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred DVD (Jillian is one of the trainers on the hit TV show The Biggest Loser).

As for the big Thanksgiving meal itself, I filled my plate with a small serving of each of the items I cared about. Gratefully, I didn’t pig-out or stuff myself. And for dessert, I enjoyed smaller slivers of each pie, instead of having larger pieces.

So that’s how I’m doing so far. There are still lots of holiday meals and events coming up, but I’m planning on continuing my extra exercise routines throughout the holidays.

How’d you do?

You might also like:
How to Survive the Holidays and Maintain Balance
How to Beat Holiday Stress and Busyness
13 Ways to Save Money & Beat the Stress of Holiday Shopping & Gift Giving
How to Change Expectations During the Holidays or Anytime
How to Cope with Holiday Stress

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Giving Thanks

Posted On November 26, 2009 Leave a Comment

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. A day for many to get together with family and friends and express thanks for the many blessings they’ve received.

I believe thankfulness, or gratitude, is a key ingredient for a successful life. In my observation, thankful people are happier and they go farther than unhappy people, and they have a lot more friends.

We don’t have to limit Thanksgiving to just one day of the year. In fact, I’m working on cultivating an attitude of gratitude every day. But on this Thanksgiving Day, here are some of the things I’m thankful for:

My faith
My beautiful wife and five great children
Friends
Good health
The ability to do the work I love
The ability to invest my talents in causes and organizations I believe in
The mentors who have invested in my life and taught me much of what I share here
New friends who have encouraged me as I’ve developed this site: Lynn Terry, Mark Mason, and Free Money Finance.

What are you thankful for?

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Coping with Holiday Stress

Posted On November 24, 2009 1 Comment

The following is a guest post from Stephen Thomas at Life Change For You!, as part of my series on How to Survive the Holidays & Maintain Balance.

During the holidays there can be a lot of stress and I would like to address one very important kind and my solution to it. Coping with holiday stress can take the fun out of family gatherings and worse, create tension in relationships.

During the holiday season, there are gatherings for celebrations and sharing of meals. We fill the house to overflowing with people that we see often and those we do not. We also fill the house with people we get along with and those we don’t, or at least not so well. This is the process I have used in the past. Now I will admit that I have not always remembered to use this technique and those times, unfortunately, did not go as well as the times I have.

Okay, enough build up. Here is the technique. I love to watch people. When my wife and I go to the mall, she shops and I watch people. I like to sit on one of those benches and watch people walk by. As I watch, I ask myself questions about them. Why do they dress that way? Who are they and what makes them tick? What kind of hardship has life thrown at them and how did that mold who they are? If given the chance, how would they change their life?

When I am in a holiday family gathering, I try to do the same thing. I get myself into the mall mode and watch people. I look at them and their life without judgment. I ask myself the same types of questions. Who are they really and what is their life like? What is it they are trying to say with their words and their actions?

This allows me to let Aunt Mable’s comment about my favorite sweater go and realize that she is just a bitter woman who needs to cut down others so she doesn’t feel so worthless herself. I can watch my niece’s son stick his snot covered fingers directly into the jello bowl and feel her embarrassment, instead of wanting to strangle the little devil.

You may think that this technique is impersonal and that I am being unloving. I fell nothing of the sort! Using this way of looking at people helps me to see past their faults and learn to love them as they are and for who they are. Granted, my mental images and reasons for what they do or say may be far from the truth, their truth, but it helps me to see them as people. We so often label others and forget that they are human just like us and they are trying to live life as best they can, just like us.

You may not like this mall mode of thinking to cope with holiday stress, but for me, it works much better than getting into a huge fight or getting so inebriated that nothing bothers me. Whatever your method of coping with holiday stress, may you have a very blessed holiday season.

You might also like…
How to Survive the Holidays and Maintain Balance
How to Beat Holiday Stress and Busyness
How to Enjoy Holiday Food Without the Weight Gain
13 Ways to Save Money & Beat the Stress of Holiday Shopping & Gift Giving
How to Change Expectations During the Holidays or Anytime

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