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Juggling it all?

Do you find yourself trying to do more with less? Is it challenging to find a healthy work/life balance? Can you manage to do all the things while also carving time out for self-care? And is it really possible to juggle it all? And, even if we could, should we?

A lot of us try to be hyper-productive and we work harder and faster than ever before. We rely on our “surge-capacity” to sustain us for the long-haul. Many of us also subscribe to the idea that staying busy means we’re working hard and we’re going to be more productive.Maybe we can stop glorifying being busy and find ways to preserveour energy.

We all have 24 hours in a day. Time is a valuable commodity, but as one of my favorite meditation teachers Light Watkins suggests, it’s actually not time but our presence that’s most valuable. Be present and notice how much time we have available. Notice how we’re feeling and whether we’re optimizing our time. Notice when we’re feeling tired and what spaces or tasks deplete our energy.

On the other hand, also take notice of things that bring us joy! How about doing less better by focusing our time and energy on things that truly matter? You may have heard the story of priorities and a jar. In short, if you put sand into a jar first, there’s no room for the larger rocks or the pebbles. The same can be said for our lives. If we spend all our time and energy on the small, less important stuff, we’ll never have room for the things that are truly important.

If you have a few moments, take out a piece of paper and make a list of the top 10-15 priorities in your life. Then, consider another metaphor for juggling myriad balls in the air. During an interview, author Nora Roberts shared: “The key to juggling is to know that some of the balls you have in the air are made of plastic and some are made of glass. And if you drop a plastic ball, it bounces, no harm done. If you drop a glass ball, it shatters, so you have to know which balls are glass and which are plastic and prioritize catching the glass ones.”

How do I tell when I’m getting out of balance? A technique I use regularly is the S.T.O.P. mindfulness technique, a four-step mental checklist that helps me ground myself in the present moment. The acronym stands for stop, take a deep breath, observe, and then proceed with intention.

Incidentally, my “tell” is when I’m juggling too much is when I start misplacing or forgetting things. That’s a sure sign that I’m trying to do too much and that I need to let go of some plastic balls.