Each Sunday, our goal is to share a piece of gold with you, some small piece of information that helps you to have a better week and achieve a better outcome.  

One of the things that I’ve done my best to eradicate from the vocabulary in our environment is the phrase, “Work/Life Balance.” I believe it is a total misnomer, because work is a part of life. The goal is to achieve the right overall life balance. 

As you know all too well, today’s world is more busy, more confusing, and more frustrating than ever. We are hit with messages, media, attention-getters, and other people’s priorities constantly. The competing priorities for our time are non-stop. Not to mention the roles in life that we all have: being a spouse, a son or daughter, a parent, employee, a professional, an accountant for our lives, a planner… or as my daughter would say: “adulting”  

Here are a few thoughts and recommendations to help.  

  1. One of my core beliefs is that you must start out by leading yourself. We all have debates with ourselves each day. From hitting snooze, to eating right, getting in a workout, saying no to a bad habit… the list goes on and on. When we focus on leading ourselves, the balance of life begins to shift dramatically. You cannot serve others with your full potential if you can’t lead yourself.  
  2. Surround yourself with people who bring you energy and joy. Science shows that the number one contributor to a long life is having people around us that we love and enjoy. More than diet, more than exercise, and certainly more than ice baths… people we love and enjoy matter.  
  3. Define your purpose and mission. Why are you working so hard? Get excited about life and where you are going. If you operate in a “have to” state, then life becomes more challenging and even frustrating. It sounds simple, but by having a mission, life has purpose. It is okay if the mission changes as your life shifts. Your mission can be massive or simple. There are no wrong answers. Here are a few examples:  
  4. Be an example for my kids.  
  5. Enjoy life’s experiences with my significant other.  
  6. Build a life full of joy surrounded by people I love.  
  7. Be the best at my trade.  
  8. Serve my team to help them to achieve their life goals. 
  9. Develop a profession that facilitates X dollars of income.  
  10. Build a business that serves 1,000,000 people.  
  11. Develop a meaningful morning routine. I am a big believer that if you start the day with the right routine, it sets up the day for success. It should:  
  12. Be simple and be something you can be excited about, so you want to get started.  
  13. Give you energy. (If it is a workout that you don’t enjoy, for  example, you won’t be excited.)  
  14. Focus on your mission. Make sure it is right, then focus on how you are moving the needle toward that mission. Write it. Read it. Live it.  
  15. Focus on the right things. We often get stuck in routines or meetings that don’t serve our larger objectives. Make sure your day is set up for success.  
  16. Focus on gratitude. Life is never, and will never be, perfect. However, we all have things and people to be grateful for. By taking a few minutes to focus on gratitude, our entire day will be framed correctly.  
  17. Give yourself permission to rest. We all need to rest and recover. I fight this because I like to stay up late and get up early. However, I know that without the right amount of rest, it is harder to have the tenacity to do what I need to or to say no to the things I should avoid.  
  18. Stop to start. Often times, the best way to have a balanced life is to remove things. That could be activities, routines, and even people that we need to avoid because they introduce “toxins” to our world. Like the old saying goes, “Just say NO.”  
  19. Plan your perfect week. Too much is as bad as not enough.  
  20. Having a successful day starts with a plan for a successful week. Take twenty minutes to plan the week to ensure you are focused on the right things and are set up for success. I do this on Sunday morning (hence, Success Starts Sunday), but any time that works for you will do. 
  21. Plan for some learning.  
  22. Plan for some energy-building time. 
  23. Plan to serve those you love.  

The goal of Adapt or Die is to build better leaders who run better companies and change the world. “Better leaders” doesn’t just mean in the office, but at home too. If you’d like a copy of our Perfect Week Template, purchase your copy of Adapt or Die here and then go to adaptordie.com/assets to get started.  I hope you enjoy it and figure out your perfect week, and that it helps you achieve life balance!   

PS: Great news! The audiobook version of Adapt or Die is now available. Get it from Amazon or Audible here.