Tag: balance

Echo XI

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”
– Zig Ziglar

I want to be rich.

I want to own a beautiful house.

I want to drive a Ferrari.

I want to travel the world.

These things are goals, albeit common yet extreme goals. Everyone wants to be successful and have lots of money and lounge around all day while your stocks and bonds pay your bills. Yet, what do we get from it? Are we looking to achieve these goals for the shallow reason of simply being successful? Or are we looking to reach these goals to become a better person, a more helpful person, a better role model for others?

In 2018, Jeff Bezos gave over 2 billion dollars do charity.

Bill and Melinda Gates gave 4.2 billion.

These are two of the most successful humans to ever walk the Earth (if we classify success based on wealth and global impact), yet they found the time to spread their success to others. They became their goals by achieving their goals.

I don’t mean to say that you need to be rich to make change, to grow. If your goal is to lose 20 pounds by Summer, make that goal more specific to include the fact that a lower body-weight will not only make you feel more confident, but allow you an easier time playing with your kids. If your goal is to alleviate credit card debt over the next 2 years, realize that this frees up funds to continue your education, take your family on vacation, or send your kiddo to Summer Camp. Your goal could be as simple as not being late to work again, knowing this not only lessens your risk of unemployment but makes you a better employee.

Don’t strive for success simply for the sake of being successful; strive for success to be a better.

Echo VIII

“Life is like riding a bicycle; to keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
– Albert Einstein

How often do you hear people complain about not having time? How often do you say you can’t because of a lack of time, or prioritize based on time? This is balance. As humans, we are constantly searching for a sense of balance. I’m speaking in the hypothetical sense of the word, not the “I can’t stand on one foot for more than 8 seconds” sense.

We are always longing for balance. We schedule our lives based around the hope that it will result in balance. Sadly, we often fail to find it. We prioritize our work, often times leading to neglect elsewhere. We miss out on opportunities and memories trying to please those who indirectly feed us. We sacrifice things in hopes of a more stable and balanced future, we sacrifice the now for a better then. We struggle to say no to others, and our balance begins to shift.

Yet, we still find a way to seek it. It is an undying desire of the human race to find balance. We long for it. You often hear, “I just haven’t had the time lately.” YOU must find the time, as it will never find you. Time is way too busy to seek you out, its your responsibility to find it. We offset our work time with movies and video games, we long for the subtle crunch of leaves under our feet while hiking. We have to find ways to offset the “musts” in life with the “wants.”

The issue arises when we fail to do so. We become stagnant – we lack movement. Once we stall, once we come to a stop, we become unbalanced in all aspects. Our feet don’t reach the ground and our bike falls over. Our priorities change, our mindset struggles, our outlook declines. We must maintain this sense of balance to survive. A slight slip of the foot is never a bad thing; imbalance keeps us on our toes and aware. It is how we recover from this imbalance, and become aware to the things that caused it.

Finding balance is crucial, but don’t let the path to finding it supersede life itself. You can’t catch yourself if at first you don’t fall.