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Finding balance in life can be a difficult goal to achieve.
It’s very demanding to try to spend an equal amount of time on each part of your life. Many times one part of your life will inevitably demand a larger part of your attention than another.
But the key to keeping your life in balance is not about spending an equal amount of time on every aspect of your life
Rather, the focus should be on have a system in place to determine when an aspect falls out of balance and to catch it before it is overwhelming.
I like to think of my life in different buckets. These buckets maybe work, relationships, and self. Or you can think of your life as different projects.
It is called compartmentalization.
Why compartmentalization is necessary for finding balance in life
I always have new ideas that I constantly want to execute on.
But because I have so many diverse interests it’s often hard to keep everything straight and actually execute on the many different ideas and projects successfully.
So I’ve started to compartmentalize everything in life. I have checklists of ideas, to-do lists, a calendar, and a bullet journal.
All of these tools help me compartmentalize and keep track of the different projects or aspects of my life.
Why does compartmentalizing work?
Creates a natural balance
Segregating life in different aspects, allows you to keep a holistic view of the different aspects of your life.
Since I’ve started to section my life into parts, I find that it is a lot easier to keep in check the different aspects of my life.
If I realize that I’m starting to neglect one aspect or compartment, I can catch it before it falls out of balance and becomes overwhelming.
Reduces overwhelm, improves focus
Once I am able to gauge what aspect of my life requires my attention, I can focus on just that. It allows me to keep everything straight in my mind!
By compartmentalizing, you always know what is happening in different parts of your life, and it helps keep goals and actions in check.
Multitasking never works, so rather than try and focus on a million different things, it’s easier to focus on one at a time.
Tips to compartmentalize effectively to find balance in life
ONE: Set up your compartments or buckets
Whether you think of your life in buckets or projects, take a piece of paper or notebook.
First: name the compartments.
This could be: work, family, home, self, social
Or you could have different projects that you might be working on, and you can name each compartment after the project.
Next: Set out your top three
For each project or compartment, set out your top three objectives or goals. Each task that you do, should drive these objectives or goals forward.
Writing this down help enforce these aspects in your mind.
Ask Yourself:
- Does this capture everything in your life at the moment?
- Is there overlap in these compartments or projects?
TWO: Create visual boundaries
Whether you use a written to-do list, a calendar or a digital list, assign colors or symbols to each bucket.
This will make you aware of how much you expect from each aspect of your life.
Do a brain dump
Now, do a brain dump of all the things that are on your mind, and write them down.
Assign them to their compartments
Using the color or symbol you’ve chosen for each compartment, assign each one to their respective compartments.
One compartment may have ten items, while another may have only three.
Take a step back and assess
Look at these lists, evaluate if they are in line with your goals and objectives.
It helps indicate how balanced each part of your life is.
Ask yourself?
- Are these tasks in line with the goals or objectives with the compartments I created?
- Am I happy about how much you will focus on each compartment?
THREE: Create Time Boundaries
Schedule time to do these tasks.
You can schedule an hour and focus on all the thing in one compartment.
Or you can use this exercise to set out a weekly schedule and assign days on which you focus on each aspect.
Ask yourself?
- Am I being realistic?
- Am I happy about how much you will focus on each compartment?
SIX: Create physical boundaries
When every part of your life can be managed on your phone, it can be difficult to create boundaries between the different aspects of your life and manage their overlap.
Your phone can be used to answer work emails, order groceries and keep in touch with your friends. This can be a blessing in disguise.
One way to get around this is to create physical boundaries.
Some tips:
- Don’t answer work emails in bed.
- If you’re trying to learn a new skill, or take up a new hobby, dedicate a physical space that will trigger your habit of practicing the hobby.
- Don’t work on your couch, keep that as a sacred space to watch TV or play video games!
Ask yourself?
- What ground rules can I set to help me achieve physical boundaries?
- Are these realistic?
FOUR: Be Flexible
You may have assigned a day or hour for a particular compartment or aspect of your life, but a work email may pop up!
If not answering that text or email will cause you anxiety, just get it over with even if you haven’t set the time for it!
Revisit how you are allocating your time or to-do list, daily, weekly or monthly.
Ask yourself?
- Every month, check yourself: do these compartments make sense or do I need to make a change?
- Are there compartments that overlap?
FIVE: Optimize your process
Apply things you’ve learned from aspect or project into another. For example, if you find that you’re always neglecting to keep your apartment clean, but never miss a work meeting, because it is in your calendar. Schedule time in your calendar to clean.
The world is all about efficiency, how can you automate what you need to do?
Ask yourself?
- Can I apply the way I do things at work in my personal life?
- Can I create a checklist so that tasks don’t take up mental space?
What’s next?
In some ways, this blog was inspired by the same principle: compartmentalizing different aspects of life, and creating a collection of tools and resources to help balance the different areas.
Let me know what else you would like to see!
Cheers,
Anum