Less & More #4: Less Imbalance & More Harmony
TL;DR
When it comes to troubleshooting Imbalance, we tend to focus on what’s not working. Take a step back this week and assess your overall balance. You might be surprised to find you are closer to Harmony than you thought.
We’ve made it to week 4 of our Less & More Challenge, and it’s time to talk about the buzzy buzzwords IMBALANCE and HARMONY.
It's no secret that a life in the arts usually comes with an ambition-focused mentality — we’re taught to always be working to find the next gig and/or level up to the next stage in our careers.
This way of thinking is often a great motivator, but leaves little time for anything else. See also: IMBALANCE.
Helping artists to find balance in their lives and careers was at the core of why I started Capes Coaching. When your passion aligns with your career path on a daily basis, it’s often hard to separate Work Life and LIFE Life.
The desire to stay relevant and seize every opportunity can lead to burnout, strained relationships, and a sense of instability. Over and over again I find my clients in the coaching room struggling to maintain healthy relationships or pursue personal interests outside of the industry — they're craving HARMONY between their careers and the other parts of their life, but unsure how to avoid burnout.
The antidote to this type of imbalance often comes from setting boundaries and carving out intentional time for relationships and personal fulfillment. But before you can do that, you need to identify where the stress points are. We do this in the coaching room by taking a look at the whole of your life to find out where the imbalance lives.
I know, I know! That sounds a little daunting. But, trust me, I have a relatively easy way to do this...
ACTION OF THE WEEK: Print a copy of my Balance Sheet and rate each area of your life as it is exactly in this moment (1 being completely imbalanced, 10 being harmony).
When it comes to troubleshooting imbalance, we tend to focus on the most obvious and pressing areas of our lives. The Balance Sheet treats every area of your life as an equal part, and by seeing the numbers next to one another, you’ll be able to get a better idea of what’s working for you — and what’s not.
When we take the time to look across the entire spectrum of our life, we can get a bird’s eye view of our overall balance — even the places we might not have thought to examine. Draw a line across your ratings by connecting your numbers to one another. By seeing how straight or jagged the line is, it might help you get a better idea of overall how balanced your life is and which areas need some work.
Check in with this sheet on a semi-regular basis, even if nothing feels particularly urgent or pressing. By regularly reviewing your Balance Sheet, you'll gain clarity on your overall life balance and be able to proactively take meaningful actions towards creating more harmony in your life.