You would think that it should be so easy to prioritise your personal wellbeing on a daily basis. Yet, this is one of the most difficult things to do. I look at Justine, and nearly everything she does on a daily basis is a sacrifice for our three children. Sometimes I need to remind her that it is OK to look after her own wellbeing as well. The “worldly” things start to take over our lives, and when that happens, many things fall apart, and your personal wellbeing is one of them. So, what the hell must we do to stop it from happening? To be 100% honest, I don’t have the full answer, as it is something that I don’t always get right.
THE BIG FIVE
For the last 10-12 years, I have tried to focus on the five most important pillars in my life: my family, my health, my religion, my friends, and my work. Once I established that these were the five areas that are most important to me, I started the balancing act of spending proportionate time in all five areas. These five are not necessarily in order of importance to me, but I will go through them one by one.
- My family : I have spent a lot of time away from my family with business and leisure travel. What I try to do is balance that time away with extra home time. This is a very difficult thing to do, but being conscious about it makes a big difference.
- My health : Without our health, we cannot enjoy the fruits of our labor. It sounds like such an obvious thing to say, but not many people are able to strike that perfect balance. Make time for regular exercise and moments of silence.
- My religion/spirit : Many of us believe that we are invincible and live in that way. Once tragedy strikes close to home and you lose a family member or a close friend, then your strong spiritual life must carry you through. Don’t wait for tragedy to happen. Get your spiritual life back on track.
- My friends/community : What kind of a friend are you? Do you check in with your friends on a regular basis, or do you wait for them to contact you? What difference are you making in their lives? This morning, I went to visit a friend of mine who had a stent put into his heart. We need to make time to reach out and see what is going on in our friends’ lives.
- Work : I deliberately left this one for last. This is where most of us spend between 7 and 9 hours a day. If you are doing something that you hate, then you are not looking after your wellbeing. If you are spending too much time at work, you are neglecting your health, family, and friends. This is the one thing that we often get wrong. All of us write our business meetings in our diaries. How many of us write our lunch dates with our wives or daughters in our diaries or on our phones?
I truly believe that if you can balance these five areas in your life, then you are looking after your wellbeing, and you are a very successful person.
GET IN TOUCH
If you would like to get in touch with me about my key note presentation, Debunking Motivation, please send an email to corne@cornekrige.com. Visit my website to review my speaker sheet for more info. I also share my story on my social media pages on Facebook and LinkedIn.