In this quest of mine to try and figure out what it is that I want to do throughout my life, I’ve been striving for things that will not only make me happy in the future, but also today. One thing that I always try to remind myself of is that if I always live for the future, I will not enjoy the journey trying to get there. Sometimes its hard to keep that thought front of mind when you want to change your direction!

Over the weekend I read the book “48 Days to The Work You Love” by Dan Miller. In his book, he has a chapter about creating a life plan which talks about having balance in all areas of life. Those areas include work, family, recreation, community, church, and personal development. He talks about how so many of us put the majority of our energy into work which in return doesn’t leave much room for the other important things that would fulfill us. His message states that really all of those areas should be equal.

I’ll be the first to admit, I get overwhelmed thinking about how to fit it all into my schedule. However, one thing that I love about incorporating these other areas into my life is the opportunities that they will present to me. I know that they can only lead me down new paths that I otherwise wouldn’t have discovered had I only focused solely on my work.

One thing I read in this book was that if you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same results. That is so true. So, what am I going to do? Well, I want to improve on recreation and community.

To start, today I stayed after church and attended a meeting on how to get involved with volunteering. Even if I volunteer an hour or two a month, I’m exposing myself to meeting new people and helping our community. For recreation, I have scheduled two times this week to work out. I actually have a work out bag ready at work to use during lunch and then I’m going to work out in the morning on Friday.

So you have to start somewhere. I’m especially excited about community and personal development because these are the areas that will continue to open doors for me. Take a look at the list. What do you think you can do to start creating a more balanced life for yourself?