I was having a conversation with a friend last night when she asked me a very interesting question. “How do you manage to balance everything?… How do you manage to keep up with photography, running a blog, school, and your spiritual life?”

To be honest, I wasn’t sure how exactly to answer her question. She did catch me off-guard as I had barely given it any thought before then. It suddenly dawned on my consciousness that somehow I’m able to keep everything going, albeit with not so much effectiveness. The most important thing however is that I try to keep the engines turning no matter how slow. The law of inertia makes us understand that it’s easier to accelerate a moving wheel to the desired speed than one at rest.

Let me quickly admit that I do struggle with attaining the right balance in my personal life. Those in close proximity can attest that I sometimes overcommit to one activity at the expense of other important ones. Eventually, I end up lagging behind and playing catch up. Another fruit of imbalance to which I’m no stranger is underestimating tasks and putting them off for later. More often than not, I get choked in the long run and get myself trapped in the web of fighting deadlines – of course, not without losing to some.

Well, I had to give an answer to the question posed to me. After pondering over it for a quick moment, my mind provided me with something, which I think is worth sharing.

Time is a Limited Resource.

Striking proper balance largely has to do with the ability to allocate the adequate resources that are required to keep every important aspect of one’s life afloat and in good shape at every given point in time. It is highly administrative.

Unfortunately, some resources, such as time, are only available in very limited measures. The ability to administer these resources appropriately makes or breaks our quest for balance.

I mentioned previously that I suck at striking the right balance across my various ventures right?
Recently, I’ve been paying dearly for my previous misuse of this non-retrievable resource, mostly as a result of unnecessary procrastination. I can tell you that, indeed, the consequences far outweigh whatever immediate relief I got from putting off those tasks.

But beyond the unavoidable pain of needing to devote more mental and physical efforts to getting things done post when they are due, my rather cramped schedule has made me see the concept of time in a different light. Twenty-four hours suddenly seem insufficient for a day, and it is as though everything is happening on 2x speed.

Of course, I know this illusion of time is only relative to what I currently have on my table, but the point I’m trying to make is that this is one resource that impossible to get any extra dose of and the ability to use it wisely in regards to your important tasks is the foundation to maintaining proper balance in life. Know what is a priority and what is not and allocate your time accordingly… This leads me to the next point.

Balance is Relative.

Having stated that the right balance is struck when we have all the different “compartments” that make up our life’s whole duty serviced and in good condition per time, it is necessary to mention that the formula to achieve this state isn’t universally the same for everyone.

Everyone’s life is made up of a unique set of compartments and based on what we consider as important and our predefined life trajectory, these compartments rank differently from person to person. What person A considers as a top priority might not be so important to person B, thus giving both parties an absolute formula for striking balance in their respective lives would not be an ideal way to go about things.

Balance is highly relative to our priorities and our priorities help us define our level of balance per time. Being able to spell out what is most important and how everything in our lives ranks on the spectrum of importance at every given time is a key step to attaining a state of balance.

It is also necessary to know that priorities change per time, making the whole administrative thing even more complicated. Defining these priorities helps us determine the amount of our limited time we can dedicate to each compartment. Sometimes, certain compartments may require intense efforts to move the needle and others would be just fine if left dormant. In such cases, devoting more of our time and resources to the latter at the expense of the pressing matters of the former leads to imbalance.

Knowing our priorities help us regulate the dispensation of our resources and that is the very core of maintaining a balanced life.

The Eisenhower Decision Matrix

This popular tool, named after its inventor, happens to be a widely accepted way to determine how resources (time and energy) should be allocated in relation the priorities. I believe it is familiar to most, probably not by its real name though. (I had to look it up myself… Lol.)

Simply put, the formula categorizes tasks at hand into four quadrants based on their urgency and importance. They are divided into these quadrants — “Urgent and important”, “Urgent but not-so-important”, “Not urgent but important”, “Not urgent and not important” — based on the nature of the tasks and there are suggested actions for each category. (More on the Eisenhower Decision Matrix and how to use it here). This is only but one way to go about defining priorities.

To close this off, I’d say there is no one-size-fits-all formula to achieving a state of balance in our personal lives. Different people have come up with different ways of going about it. In the end, what matters is that you’re able to get all your important tasks and activities done and at the right time. This indeed is the ultimate proof of a balanced life.

How do you maintain balance in your life?