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Brief overview of the book I am putting together... it is a "work in progress" as it has been stopped and started many times... When I finish my doctorate mid 2007 I should have more time and no excuses! I have reserved the web site "theworldisgray" as the book covers the importance of acknowledging that although we would like to live in a black and white world - it is in fact grey as we have to make allowances for others.
The book is entitled "The World is Gray" and is written more on a "Who Moved My Cheese" format.
Here are two PowerPoints I put together that summariaze what follows...
The Balanced Life
The balanced life is not rocket science. When I first thought up the concept (at age 17) there were 5 areas that I looked at. Physical, Social, Emotional, Intellectual, and Spiritual. Later in life I realized the enormous impact of Financial on those areas and so added it. I still had a feeling that it was incomplete, and while sitting in church one day, it suddenly came to me that sexual was the missing link (or “intimate” as it seems preferred that I refer to it). This brought the number of “spokes” to 7 (the “Godly” number) and made the picture complete. The older I get the more I realize the impact of unfulfilled intimacy and funds upon one's life. While we need enough to be comfortable, a favorite joke is “Do you have any clue how much does Bill Gates leaves behind him when he dies?” The answer: “All of it!” Life needs to be in balance and the major focus should be upon raising good citizens.
The gist to the book revolves around understanding the avenues in our life that make us who we are, and ensuring that they are in balance. For example:
Take a pen and paper, and write on the left column:
Physical
Social
Emotional
Intellectual
Spiritual
Financial
Intimate
Then, next to each word, put two scores (out of ten). The first score is for “how you think you are” – for example, if you are healthy, have no illnesses, take no medication, are not overweight, have no family history of illness, score an 8, 9 or 10.
The second score is for “amount of effort expended” – for example, if you work out in the gym 3 times a week, or walk for at least 30 minutes 3 times a week, have your health checked regularly, watch your diet, you can score higher.
When you have scored all the criteria, 1) Draw two circles – a decent size, at least 3 inches in diameter, 2) Draw 7 spokes in each wheel, (each spoke representing one of the above criteria). 3) Now take each spoke and “notch” it 10 times, beginning from the hub of the wheel. 4) Go back to your scores, and beginning with wheel one, mark your score – one score for each spoke until all seven are represented. 5) Repeat the exercise for the second wheel with your second scores. Your wheels should look like this: Click here.
My good friend from school days, Rob Orr (now living in Autralia) made a spreadsheet Click here. that allows you to simply plug in the number and the spreadsheet graphically shows your results.
What you have now are two wheels which represent how balanced your life is. Wheel one is “how balanced you are” while wheel two is “the effort you put in to being balanced” – note that the effort you put in to wheel two will eventually have an impact one wheel one. Wheel two is the one that you can change.
If your wheels are a little “unbalanced” and you want to change – here are your choices: 1) Go to wheel one to see what score you are unhappy with 2) Then go to wheel two to see how much effort you are putting into that area
You now have two choices: 1) Create extra time in the day but getting up earlier so you can work on that area, or 2) Take time from the area which has the highest score, and re-allocate the time in the area you want to work on.
A motivational speaker once said something profound: “Anything worth doing, is worth doing poorly” – now this flies in the face of the original quote “Anything worth doing, is worth doing well!” but here is the point he was making: If it is worth doing, then at least try. It is better to have tried and lost, than not to have tried at all. Remember how to eat an elephant: One bite at a time! Life is not about how many times you get knocked down, it is about how many times you stand up!
Good luck! Email me at brent@stephensfamily.net if you have any questions...
