Recognize What is Important in your Current Life Statusby David J. Jensen

There are three areas of your life that tend to have the strongest demand for your attention—personal, professional, and financial. Picture a pie chart featuring each of these categories. Ideally you would like to achieve a balance in these three areas; however, this type of life balance is rare and even if you do reach it at some point, it is difficult to sustain.

When you juggle work, finances, and family, you know there will be disruptions to each of these areas as you strive to accommodate the needs of all three. For example, when you tend to the needs of your kids, you aren’t able to devote as much time to your work which means on your life-balance pie chart, the professional and financial areas of your life are much smaller. Remind yourself that the current status is okay because the personal portion of your life is doing well.

This is an area that I struggle with the most as a small business owner. No matter which segment absorbs the bulk of my attention, I often think that there is more I should be doing to bolster the other portions of my pie chart. The best way I have found to assuage this mental tug-of-war is to remind myself that each area goes through cycles.

Since I started my business, I have noticed that mid-way through the summer months my business slows down. It happens about the same time every year. During this time I often feel like I should be doing more to promote my services and bring in new business. I finally recognized that my business slowed down at a time each year and when my kids are out of school. During this time, I spend less money and spend more time with the children.

It’s easy to stress over maintaining a comfortable balance with your three dimensions particularly as a parent. Remind yourself that your current status is okay because you are giving attention to an important area of your life. This makes it much easier to focus your efforts to the area of your life that is demanding the most attention.

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