Multisport Life

Achieving balance

I’ve come to believe that achieving balance is the Holy Grail of our existence. Our true purpose in life, if you will. Finding balance is easy. Everyone knows what to do. Just run down to the book store or turn on the TV late at night and you’ll have folks like Tony Robbins telling you how to go about finding balance in your life.

The hard part is actually achieving balance.

And, what, pray tell, are we trying to balance?

In my case, I’m trying to balance the following commitments:

• Being a good husband for my wife
• Being a good provider for my family
• Being a good father to my daughters
• Being a good pack leader (I dislike the term owner) to my dogs
• Being a creative and reliable employee for my employer
• Being a creative and reliable consultant for my freelance clients
• Being a creative and reliable author for my publishers

Notice that these are all external commitments. There are no internal or “me” commitments. Nothing that helps me be a better Hak. As selfish as it may sound to some, if I’m not running at 100 percent internally, then I can’t give 100 percent to my external commitments. It’s the First Law of Thermodynamics applied to human relations: Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It is just transferred from one system to another. If I’m giving all of my energy to another system (exothermic…yes, studying chemistry is corrupting my brain), and I’m not getting any added to my system (endothermic), then pretty soon, I’m out of energy and nobody gets nothin’ from ol’ Hak.

So how do I try and keep my engines running at 100 percent? Why, of course, throw more commitments into the mix:

• Being mentally fit
• Being physically fit
• Being spiritually fit

With all of these external commitments, how in the hell do I squeeze in time for my internal commitments?

In my 40 years on this planet, I’ve come to appreciate that there are no easy, quick fixes to finding harmony in my life. Although, God knows I’ve tried quite a few shortcuts over the years. In the end, just like a race, it’s the little things that add up to make a big difference.

In my case, those little things are daily habits.

We all have productive daily habits like brushing our teeth, getting dressed, eating certain foods for breakfast, etc. We also have destructive daily habits like watching television, spending too much time on the Internet, picking lint out of our belly buttons, and so forth.

In order to keep me running at 100 percent, I need to replace as many destructive habits with productive habits that help me keep my gazillion commitments.

“Wait right there!” you argue. “Just drop some of your commitments you moron.”

Well, I’ve tried that and I keep going back to filling up my life with more commitments. Life is too short to do just a handful of things. Plus, I have the attention span of a six-year-old. Not a great combination for stability. I’m a mile wide and an inch deep when it comes to life. I will never specialize in one field or one sport. Ain’t gonna happen. Instead of trying to fight that handicap, I’m learning to make it my strength.

Next week, I’ll run through the daily habits I’ve been incorporating into my life to help achieve that balance.

Find your edge and dance upon it.

hak

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