Balancing for Peak Performance
How to achieve extraordinary results in life and work without sacrificing health and happiness
Most people would love to be rated as the best in their field of work, but only a few understand how to balance their life to be the best. This article will help you get started on how to experience life to its fullest and produce the best result in your work every day.
“Is everyone destined for greatness? Can we all become the next Mark Zuckerberg? Do we all have the potential for extraordinary achievement?” These are questions I have asked myself countless times as I tried to understand what distinguishes the few top performers from the crowd. My curiosity led me on a reading adventure and study of thought leaders. For me, an articulate answer to the question was so important because I needed assurance that greatness is worth the pains, sweat, tears, and sacrifice that comes with the journey to attain it. After many years of study and personal development, I concluded that we all have equal potential to achieve greatness and that discovering greatness requires that you seek it. The Bible parable of the sower made me realize that the potential of a tree lies within the seed, but what determines the growth of the seed is the external environment and circumstances in which the seed finds itself. Fortunately, humans are not seeds or trees, we can move and change the environments we find ourselves in, to increase the chances of reaching our full potential. Therefore, it is worthy to note that “You are like a seed, and the potential to be great lies within you, all you need to do is find the right environment to grow.”
Many things prevent most people from being on the top of their game, such as lack of goal setting, lack of drive and ambition, unfavorable early-stage growth environment, uninspiring inner circle (top 5 friends), lack of purpose, e.t.c. But for the sake of this article, I will focus on the reasons that arise due to imbalance such as stress, anxiety, depression, unhappiness, procrastination, distractions, and low energy levels. To increase the chances of fulfilling your highest potential, you need to truly understand the concept of balance, and how it relates to peak performance.
To understand the steps below, take a moment to breathe in and out. Feel the energy coming in and going out through your nostrils.
Energy In = Energy Out
The equation above means that the amount of energy you take ultimately equals the level of energy you will be able to expend. Simply put, you need more life-producing energy to perform at your peak level. This refers to Work-Life Balance. For instance:
● A car with more than enough fuel to travel will get to its destination, meaning ‘Energy In’ is greater than ‘Energy Out’ (Energy In > Energy Out).
● A car without enough fuel is less likely to get to its destination. This means the ‘Energy In’ is less than the ‘Energy Out’ (Energy In < Energy Out).
Applying this to human lives, we begin to experience stress, anxiety, depression, dissatisfaction, illness, and the like, when our ‘fuel’ level is low. These are symptoms of an imbalance between work and life activities and if the ‘fuel’ gets depleted we will be unable to reach our destination.
Improving balance and achieving peak performance in work and life requires discipline and is quite challenging, especially if you live in a busy city like Lagos, Nigeria. The average employee working in Lagos can spend up to 5 hours in traffic every weekday — that’s enough to leave anyone drained! To combat this reality, first and foremost you need to understand the sources of your energy. The emphasis on ‘your’ sources is important because it varies for every individual.
These energy sources may be found in one or more of the ten facets of life:
1. Physical
2. Spiritual
3. Personal Development
4. Career Development
5. Work & Business
6. Building Relationship
7. Finance
8. Romance
9. Community
10. Fun & Adventure
For example, exercising is a great way to harness positive energy. Building relationships with like-minded individuals is another way to recharge energy levels. Many people find traveling to be an activity that relaxes and has a rejuvenating effect. The bottom line is that you should be spending more time on activities that energize you regularly, so you can have enough energy to produce your best work while experiencing balance.
To increase my ability to balance my activities, I use a time tracking tool I invented to track the time spent in each facet of life, This enables me to reflect and review my activities to make changes when necessary and consequently live my best life daily.
and Startup Entrepreneur, Olu Ogunlela discussing Liferithms during the Vice President’s tour of the tech ecosystem in Nigeria.
I help FAANG employees optimize their lifestyle to thrive in work and life using data from wearable tech. Follow me for more articles on how to increase your productivity and improve your wellbeing.
