5 Pillars to achieve Balance
An approach to unlock growth, by maintaining a healthy balance across 5 pillars of our life
Which advice or learning would you give the 20-year-old version of yourself if you could travel back in time?
This question triggered me when thinking about it a couple of years ago, and after reflecting it all boiled down to one major learning — the importance of keeping a balance.
To achieve this, I have been developing a framework called the “5Ps”, which I’m covering in this article. I have been only sharing this concept with friends and colleagues over the last couple of years, but their feedback about the positive effect it had on their life, actually encouraged me to summarize this framework in a brief article. So hopefully, it creates even more impact for more people.
Background
In the last 10 years, I came across hundreds of frameworks about personal growth, goal setting and alike, and I’ve applied and tested lots of those frameworks for myself. Some of those have been very inspiring, however, all of them lacked one critical aspect of why they did not work for me in the long run — balance.
Balance is something that gets easily overlooked and underrated in the rush of our everyday lives. However, balance turned out to become a real superpower for me, compared to how I was setting myself isolated targets before.
Let me explain.
When I was 20, I was focusing almost all my capacity for a certain time on what I call the “professional pillar” of my life, which was related to my career, starting a company, acquiring skills through continuous learning etc. and I was rigorously setting myself targets and was very disciplined on how I was pursuing those.
However, what my 20-year-old version back then didn’t understand, is that I’m running a marathon and not a sprint.
For a short sprint, this limitation in terms of priorities might work, however, it won’t take me to the finishing line of completing what I actually aim to achieve “the marathon”.
So the more energy I put into those goals (which primarily only affected one pillar), the less productive or inspired I became over time. So basically the opposite effect happened on what I wanted to achieve.
Fortunately, I figured this out swiftly, and after redistributing my priorities across all 5 pillars of my life (not just one), I actually realized that I became even more effective and productive with what I wanted to achieve in this pillar. So basically I spent less rigorous time on this one particular pillar, however, the time I spent was more productive and even more effectively utilized thanks to regaining balance across various areas of my life.
Think about it this way, all of us have one thing in common, and that’s the fact that we have the same amount of the most valuable resource in life, which is also the only resource you can’t duplicate or buy with money — time.
There is one resource in life which you can’t reproduce even if you would be willing to pay for it, and that is time. Be smart about how you use it.
Time matters, because whatever professional career track you are on, you will never get this resource back. And what we believe is the most important aspect of our lives, might look very different 40 years from now when zooming out and reflecting.
There is one scene in a very famous Disney movie called “Up”, where the protagonist looks back after years and figures out that he already had the best thing in his life without seeing it. The thing about time is, that there is no button to “rewind”.
I like this example when thinking about my long-term ambition, career, and growth goals. Why? Because it adds a layer to it, which outlines the importance of balance in how you spread your time across the main areas of your life.
Striving for balance does not mean you shouldn’t be ambitious. But your ambition in life shouldn’t be limited to one pillar.
So I wanted to leverage a framework for myself, that ensures I keep a lens on this balance when utilizing my time. After having an inspiring chat in 2014 with a very good friend at a coffee place in Vienna, I came up with a framework for myself which I call “the 5Ps”.
Let’s delve into it.
What are the 5Ps?
The 5Ps stand for the “five pillars”, and are a framework to unlock growth while maintaining a sustainable balance in life.
The 5Ps comprise all major areas of life, such as the profession that makes you a living, the people in your life you care about, the passion you follow, personal activities or hobbies you enjoy, as well as your physical wellbeing
Imagine your life is a building and the 5ps are ensuring the building has the necessary stability and foundation to endure in the long run.
The People in your life
- Do you spend enough quality time with the people you truly care about?
- E.g. your family, closest friends?
- Do you work with /or meet inspiring people in your work setting?
The Profession you have to earn a living:
- Are you happy with what you are doing for a living?
- Are you able to grow in your role?
- Do you work with like-minded and inspiring peers?
- Does your profession enable you to realize some of your desires? (e.g. traveling the world)
The Passion that keeps you excited and going
- Do you have something in your life that you are truly passionate about?
- Do you dedicate enough time to that domain?
The Personal hobbies and things you enjoy for yourself to refuel your energy
- Do you spend enough time on the things you enjoy? This is very subjective and might be a great movie, an adventurous trip, quality time with your wife, or enjoying a good dinner and bottle of wine with your closest friends
Your Physical well-being (fitness, health)
- Are you looking after your physical well-being?
- Do you feel fit the majority of the time?
- Do you have enough time for sports?
Now that we understand what those 5 pillars are, let’s guess what happens if you put the entire weight of the building on a single pillar and neglect the others? We don’t need a PHD to figure out that eventually after a certain time, the entire foundation will collapse.
That’s just a generic example, but the point is keeping a healthy balance is key across those pillars, to perform even better in the long run in one particular area.
As said above, it’s a marathon and not a sprint.
How to get started with the 5Ps
I started to refine this framework continuously over the last couple of years and figured out that for me it’s most effective to apply a 4 step process
- Defining my understanding of those pillars
- Setting annual priorities I want to focus my time on (not targets)
- Setup and continuously evolve my support system which comprises habits and principles for each pillar, which shape my everyday behaviour
- Take conscious time to reflect on my balance across those 5Ps
Below you find a step-by-step guide and a link to download the template.
Step 1: Define your meaning of each of those pillars
The first step is to formulate your understanding of those 5 pillars, which are highly subjective and vary from person to person.
Let’s take the “personal” pillar for instance:
What are the hobbies or activities you enjoy, and which are refueling your energy?
One person might say “going on a 4-week sailing trip”, whereas for someone else it is “having enough time to pursue a hobby like Djing”, or another person might respond that it is important to “enjoying a cozy dinner with friends” etc.
Below are a few trigger questions to get you started across all those pillars
When this is defined, I move on to the next step — defining priorities.
Step 2: Set priorities (not goals)
Set priorities you want to focus on in the upcoming year and order those according to how important they are.
Priorities are distinct focus areas that you aim to address, improve, or focus on over a certain period (e.g. I use an annual cadence for that)
For instance
- Passion: Dedicate more time and focus to a certain side-project
- Personal: Become fluent in a particular new hobby
- Physical: Adhere to a weekly workout or training plan
- People: Spend more quality time with your family
- ….
Why do I call that “priorities” and not “goals”?
I have tested various frameworks in the past related to goal setting for personal growth, however, something didn’t feel right when imposing a rigorous structure on my personal life about goals and checkboxes.
Let me explain:
A goal is very concrete and has a very distinct deadline. E.g. “Personal Pillar” By the end of 2024 I want to take 4 month sabbatical where I visit 10 countries within 4 months.
A priority, on the other hand, is not as tightly specified but still provides a clear focus and direction. e.g. “Personal Pillar”: Enjoy a 4-month travel period where I visit various countries from my bucket list.
A target can sometimes become a trap, especially if you take those too strictly. Imagine you set yourself a goal six months ago and you are so obsessed with achieving this objective by the year's end. However, the actual value you get from this target has changed over time, and it is not as important to you anymore as it was 6 months ago. However, the structure of achieving those goals forces you to keep dedicating time to this very specific target. That didn’t feel right.
If you are keen to read more about the issue with goal setting related to personal growth, there is a great article called “Forget about setting goals”, by James Clear (the author of the bestseller “atomic habits”.
Last but not least, and to be very honest, I have to work with targets professionally daily, and decided for myself that I don’t want to live my personal life like a list of deadlines and checkboxes.
But there is nothing wrong with constant personal targets. That’s something everyone needs to find out for himself and there is no wrong or right. I just learned that priorities are a better match for me personally, as they set a clear focus on what's important to me, but still provide enough flexibility on how I approach or adapt to the situation as I learn something new.
Step 3: Setup a “support system”
One thing that turned out to work very well for me personally is to set up “support systems” across those 5Ps.
What is a support system?
A support system encompasses habits and principles, which are incorporated into our everyday life, to support our ambitions for each of those pillars.
Habits are behaviors or actions that we regularly perform almost automatically. The value of forming habits lies in the fact, that they become ingrained in small pieces in our weekly schedule, but their action accumulates over time tenfold.
Examples
- About the “Physical Pillar”, you might block yourself time in your calendar for 2 days a week after work, to work out or go for a run.
- Related to the “Passion Pillar”, you might foster a habit where you for instance block yourself two hours each Saturday, which you dedicate to your passion project. Or the weekly visit to a coffee place where you take time to read your favorite books.
- Or related to “People Pillar” you might schedule quality weekends with very special friends in advance, to ensure this becomes a ritual and that the quality time is not getting skipped due to whatever excuse
Principles on the other hand are guiding beliefs that shape our decisions and actions.
Examples:
- “Profession”: I’m truly open for feedback, and embrace feedback in a constructive manner
- “People”: I rather find a reason to meet my friends even if it includes traveling, than an excuse
- “Passion”: I dedicate more time to creating content than consuming
- “Physical”: I take a long-term perspective when it comes to actions impacting my health, but keep enjoying the small pleasures of life”
- …
Having a working support system defined for each pillar takes time and patience.
Habits and principles are easy to note down on paper but difficult to truly live by on a day-to-day basis. I recommend starting small and focusing only on a few habits and principles you aim to master first before expanding.
If you are keen to learn more about forming habits and principles, I strongly recommend the book “atomic habits”, as well as the audiobook summary “principles for success” . Great summary with lots of actionable examples.
Step 4: Continuously reflect upon your balance across those five pillars
Last but not least, I’m regularly trying to revisit my 5Ps and reflect if I’m keeping or losing this balance. I try to take conscious time for that, sometimes every week, sometimes every quarter. I typically grab a coffee, start my deep-focus playlist on Spotify, and try to avoid any distractions for 30 minutes.
Then I take a look at my personal summary of those 5Ps, and question if my priorities are set correctly, and challenge myself in case I realize that I have heavily neglected one of those pillars over the last weeks/months.
Additionally, I note down any particular learning I had in one of those pillars and think about how this could translate into a new habit or principle.
This framework also worked very well for me to zoom out from time to time and simply be thankful. Quite often the problems we perceive as problems daily, are not real problems to worry about. However, it's easy to get drowned in those, and sometimes we start to forget about all the great things we actually have in life. So reviewing all 5 pillars adds an important perspective to it, and ensures we are not losing sight of the bigger picture.
It is also normal to prioritize a pillar for a certain time over the others.
There are phases and events in life that require more time and energy in a particular pillar e.g. you are starting a business, becoming a parent, taking on a new role in your job, or simply deciding to travel the world for a few months where you don’t care about anything work-related at all. All of that is normal and will have no critical impact on your life in the short term, however, might become a substantial issue in the long run.
Maintaining and evolving this perspective with the 5Ps enabled me to zoom out, reflect, and recalibrate priorities on how I want to use my time sustainably.
I hope sharing this article, creates value for its readers, like it did for me and a closer circle of good friends.
Summing up
- The 5Ps are a framework to unlock growth while reaching a sustainable balance in life
- The 5Ps comprise all major areas of your life, such as the profession which makes a living, the people in your life you care about, the passion you follow, personal activities or hobbies you enjoy, as well as your physical wellbeing
- I believe to be truly fulfilled and reach our ultimate ambitions, it’s key to keep a sustainable balance
- It’s a marathon and not a sprint. Be smart on how you allocate your time, and keep the big picture in mind
- The framework comprises 4 steps:
1) Defining your understanding of each pillar,
2) Setting priorities you aim to address in each of those pillars
3) Establishing a support system across those 5Ps based on habits and principles
4) Continuously zoom out, reflect, and recalibrate your priorities and time, in case you lose out on your balance - Last, but not least, it’s important to ensure the framework works for you and not the other way around. The outline of the 5Ps is my personal approach based on lots of learnings and my own experience. Adapt it as needed to serve your own needs and preferences.
