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Three Pillars of a Good Life: Stop Managing Time and Start Focusing on What Truly Matters
A fulfilling life is built on balancing three elements that are more essential than time.
I believed I just needed to balance my life. If I found the perfect ratio of work to non-work, I would be happy rather than chronically exhausted and cranky.
I was right that I needed balance, but not in the way I thought.
Balance is impossible to Maintain
I liked the seesaw as a child. One park my family regularly picnicked at had a teeter-totter consisting of one long plank with no molded seats. My goal was always to find a point where both ends could be perfectly balanced, and the seesaw would hang perfectly level. It’s a game that entertained me for long stretches because it seems achievable, but no matter how you try, you never get it right. One end is constantly up or down. It never balances perfectly on its own.
Life is like that seesaw. We search for the mythical balance point where everything will be just right, but we find ourselves drifting past it in one direction or the other. As much as I tried to get the proportions right, life kept upsetting my equilibrium.