Do you feel burdened with too many responsibilities and not enough time for yourself?  If so, you’re not alone.  According to an Aon Consulting survey, 88% of employees say they have a hard time juggling work and life.  Many of us have bought into the fallacy that we can do it all and have it all.  I have news for you.  You can’t do it all!  At least not without sacrifices.  Therefore, you need to focus on the most important things.  Achieving balance involves a three-step process.  It’s simple in theory, but difficult in practice.

1.  Determine what’s most important

First determine what’s most important to you.  Take time to think about your priorities.  What are the most important things in life?  Make a list.  Think of “things” in a broad sense.  They could be tangible things such as a nice house, or intangible, such as a happy family or a challenging career.

 2. Prioritize

Review your list of important things.  Which are most critical?  Draw an asterisk next to the five most important things.  The next step involves the difficult task of prioritizing your top five in priority order (1 through 5).  To aid in this process, ask yourself, “If my life depended upon it, which of these could I live without?”

 3. Determine how to spend your time

Once you determine what’s most important, then determine how to spend your time based upon your priorities.  Most people don’t keep their priorities in mind as they go about their activities each week.  Look at your calendar or schedule for the past week.  How did you spend your time?  Look at your top five most important priorities.  Are these two aligned?  For most people the answer is “no”.  If that’s the case, then you need to make some changes.  

Where are your priorities and your time out of alignment?  Where do you need to spend more time?  Less time?  Focus on the most important, and say “no” to the unimportant.  Carve out time for your most important priorities.  If you say your spouse is important, but you’re more like two ships passing through the night, then schedule a date night.  Actually write it on the calendar.  Then say “no” to less important activities.  If you’re handling a lot of the minutia at work, then delegate it to your assistant.  This allows you to focus on the important aspects of your job, rather than the details.  If you’re letting other less important activities get in the way, then you are not honoring your priorities.

The key to achieving balance is to align how you spend your time with your priorities.  If you follow this three-step process and implement it, you’ll experience greater peace, harmony and balance in your life.