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People often talk about the importance of having balance in life. While balance is important, having more harmony in your life might actually be what’s really important.
As a pseudotype A/obsessive personality, there was a point in my life where I constantly worked to have more balance.
Every week I would write out my to-do list. Get groceries, cook, prep meals, exercise, hang out with friends, spend time with family, clean up, do laundry, pay bills, take the car to the shop, get all of the office work done (which was a completely different list) – you get the picture.
I loved my lists and more importantly, I felt so accomplished when I was able to do every single thing. Ultimately, I felt like I had BALANCE. This caused me to feel that I was able to give equal time to every aspect of my life even if it led to me being tired, stressed and anxious.
How I felt did not matter, what mattered was that I gave my all to every part of my list, checking things off as I went, and on paper that was what I considered to be a balanced lifestyle.
The funny thing about life is that so many times, unforeseen challenges can swoop in and totally wreck your perfect balance. Many times that is exactly what would happen to me, which would lead to me feeling like a failure; as if not finishing everything on my list done was a sign of my incompetence.
I had to learn the hard way. I now teach many of my coaching clients that having a balanced life is not the goal. The goal is to create a lifestyle filled with harmony.
Harmony is not about totally throwing out your to-do list. Harmony is about understanding how to focus on the easy wins. Giving priority to 1-3 tasks a day, then using the rest of your time to focus on something that brings you joy. (Download my Harmony Schedule free resource here).
Harmony in life is recognizing what matters the most and giving more time to those experiences. Whatever is left to the lesser important aspects of your life.
The point is that even though you are not giving each part of your life equal amounts of time and attention, every aspect is working together in a way that gives your peace of mind.
For example, you may decide that you want to start meditating and jogging before you go to work in the mornings. A balanced life says that 5 days a week you will wake up at 5 am meditate for 20 minutes. Then, you will go for a 40-minute jog. You will then come home and get ready for work so you can be in the office by 8 am.
A harmony approach says you only meditated 2x a week for any amount of time then you got ready for work and you only jogged 2x a week for 20 or 30 minutes sometimes in the morning or evenings or weekends. Then, 1 day a week you just sleep in and got extra rest.
The idea is that even though you didn’t give balanced time and attention to meditating and jogging, you did do enough to get the benefits of each.
I had to learn the hard way, what I now teach many of my coaching clients, which is that having a balanced life is not the goal. The goal is to create a lifestyle filled with harmony.
An orchestra has varying types of instruments playing different tones, pitches, and volumes. But, when the conductor brings them all together, they produce harmony and rhythm.
Life has many varying pieces. We may vary the amount of time and attention we give to each, but if we focus on creating the feeling of peace and joy, we can then create a harmonious lifestyle.
Want a tangible way to figure out how to add more harmony to your life? Download my Harmony Schedule, a fun activity to help you get control of the most important activities that bring you feelings of more peace and joy.
XOXO Tiffiny
Tiffiny has a B.A. in Psychology, and master’s degree in Public Health Education. She worked in consulting for over 16 years, as well as previously owning a fitness and health business. In her personal life, she used personal development, mindset and health strategies to go from being overworked in a demanding corporate career, emotionally drained in a toxic marriage, physically unhealthy, and depressed to becoming an award-winning figure level bodybuilding athlete and entrepreneur. As a women’s empowerment coach, she works to help women get clear on their goals, build confidence, increase self-esteem, take action on their deep desires and create a life they love
