Balance is bogus…

… states times management and productivity expert Rory Vaden in his book, Procrastinate on Purpose.

Well believe me, I had a hard time swallowing that one. I’ve always been all about life-work balance. It’s one of the big reasons I love being a self-employed entrepreneur – my time is my own to decide how to allocate it and I have always strived for that balance. 

So imagine my surprise when I read Vaden state that balance is an ineffectual strategy that should be avoided because it won’t bring us the results we want! It’s just an excuse for justifying why we aren’t getting the results we want in an area of our lives.

You mean all these years I’ve been happily balanced and yet ineffective? Pretty much, I have to admit. If you’ve been following my blog for a little while, you know what I mean.  (If you’d like to catch up, you might also enjoy reading this post).

Ok, deep breath. Let’s see what he has to say. If you take the notion of balance literally, it would mean that our time and energy would be equally apportioned across the numerous tasks that make up our days.

Success, claims Vaden, does NOT come from doing this, but rather from just the contrary – focusing our skills, financial resources, time or energy in one priority direction for a shorter period of time, or what he calls a “season,” which can also be described as “imbalance.”

Well, I must admit that makes sense. Look at nature. There is a season for everything. There is winter, where life’s energy and priorities are focused on regeneration and dormancy, followed by spring and the burst of growth and creation, the maturing expansive blossoming of summer and the abundant harvest of fall.

Now that I have had this period of focused “imbalance” – spending way more time and resources on my writing, blogging, and learning to navigate the intricacies of social media, I get what he says. I am starting to see the results that have previously eluded me.

And what started out as feeling imbalanced – getting up earlier than I would prefer, putting other projects on hold so I can devote time to this pursuit - has become the comfortable normal. 

So, I’m learning to embrace my season of focused imbalance, what Vaden refers to as “working double-time part-time for full-time free time.”

Because what I get is that working double-time part-time now is the path to full-time free time tomorrow.

So, esteemed reader – want to join me as we embrace imbalance so we can move closer to our dreams?