In honor of my vision of having CreateaBalance.com be all things life balance, I am delighted to introduce you to Erin Loechner from Design for Mankind and her fabulous new video on life balance.
Erin takes a creative look at how busy artists, designers, and bloggers practice the art of life balance and welcomes workaholics to turn their brains off every once and awhile to unwind and have some fun.
This whimsical video is filled with practical life balance tips and honest heart-felt stories about the life balance journey.
Bravo Erin! I love it, love it, love it. May Erin and Design for Mankind be an inspiration to us all.
Design For Mankind – Dialogue Episode 1
In spirit of this video what does your work/family/personal life balance look like and what happens when you drop the ball?
I LOVE IT!
for me right now theres zero balance (work, mamaing, wifing, friending, daughtering, MizFit) BUT there is harmony.
I strive to keep all the balls working in harmony and not let one slam into the ground.
it has worked so far 🙂
MizFit´s last blog post..Exercising on back to back days. (video post)
Hi Stacey and Erin!
Love the video!! What a fun look at life balance. I could really relate to Jen, about the idea of getting distracted with something else – and going in a completely unplanned direction – and before you know it – a whole bunch of time has been wasted. It can still feel good – it’s just that I’m not getting done what I’d planned to do. Been there…too often!
I think for me, that everything kind of works as long as there are no wrenches thrown into the mix. So, on a good day, balance can be there. The thing is – most days involve some sort of wrenches. And that means plans thrown off. I guess if there’s one thing I could figure out, it would in how to work with a more fluid schedule – one that can kind of change here and there, and not cause disruptions in the already planned activities….
Awesome job ladies – all of you – Erin, Jen, Kelly, Lisa – a great open and honest discussion!!
Lance´s last blog post..Finding Balance In The Jungle
MizFit – I love it too. Zero balance, but you have harmony. I’d love to know what your definition of balance is versus your definition of harmony.
Lance – I was so excited to share this video. It’s a great find. Yes, those darn wrenches get us every time…and they continue to get thrown into the mix (just like candy-filled holidays are always around the corner). It makes me question how we can better manage our environment to better handle the bumps.
Great video- It is great to see others struggle with how to get it all done with having a balance as well. Erin is so funny! Thank you for sharing Stacey!
Jay´s last blog post..How to Save the World
Balance is so key.
While there’s a lot of approaches, the one that I’ve found to be most effective is using time and schedules. The trick is to remember to make time for what’s important. If fun is important, make time for it and schedule it. If buffers and free time are important, schedule that too. If you schedule it, it happens.
J.D. Meier´s last blog post..Avoid Mental Burnout
Loved this video! I’ve been meaning to get into the minds of other active and inspired women for quite some time and pick their brain about “balance.”
I have to admit though, I’m beginning to question the notion of balance! (I am currently writing about this)
Creative, inspired people, entrepreneurs etc certainly benefit from daily or weekly schedules, but the problem is that inspiration and creativity cannot be balanced. How can I balance my creativity? When it comes, it comes and so I must make time for it when it arrives. This means that I focus on one area of my life and other areas are set temporarily aside while I accomplish a project.
I guess what I hear in the video is that balance is a constant struggle, and I wonder if it’s because balance is approached from a “find time to fit all areas of my life in at the same time” perspective? This hasn’t worked for me yet, because as Lance said, life ebbs and flows, deadlines come and go.
Perhaps a “master schedule” where all areas of your life get attention, but not consistently can be more effective than a daily or weekly schedule…which seems to trip me up every time.
I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions?
Monica´s last blog post..North American Moms: What The Heck Is Wrong With Our Milk?
I really loved the video! Some of the comments really struck a chord with me. I sometimes choose to spend time working over other activities. I sometimes consider myself to be balanced, mainly because I do give myself breaks every so many minutes. But at the same time, it’s always about moving my projects forward.
Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time helping my grandfather & grandmother, since there was a stroke and one of them is now in the hospital. So that gives me a semblance of balance, since I like spending time with them.
There are no easy answers, but this was an honest look at what it’s like! 🙂
Nathalie Lussier´s last blog post..How To Pay The Bills While Following Your Passion
Jay – Seeing others be honest about the challenge of practicing the art of life balance can be uplifting. I can see the passion shine though in all of the women in this video.
J.D. – One of many things that I have learned from you is the concept of time boxes. Now I just need to utilize this concept more often.
Monica – I’d also love to “get into the minds of other active and inspired women…and pick their brains about balance”. I’m always questioning the notion of balance and always go back to the same belief system – balance is a journey, not a destination. We are never balanced, but we can be practicing the art of life balance to keep our needs and passions in our lives.
Nathalie – Yeah! Thanks for taking the time to watch it. Many comments also struck a chord with me too. My thoughts are with you and your grandparents.
Oh my gosh….I love the video very much!! It’s whimsical and fun alright!! I’m going to send it to my husband and friends. They have been finding me kind-of an internet addict.
Really, what can I say? I do spend a great deal of time online. Nevertheless, I also strive to strike some balance. I have to. My family needs my attention too! Great sharing, Stacey!!
Evelyn Lim´s last blog post..My Personal Creed
Nice video!
For me, I take some time in between my work and dive into the inner space. To be Balanced and getting energized.
Well said, to create balance doesnot take money, it is matter of perspective.
Cheers!
The Journey Within´s last blog post..The Best Spiritual Teachers
I’ve been really working on my balance recently. One thing that has worked for me is combining activities. For example, yesterday I rode my bike for an hour and headed to a park for a black and white photo shoot (Travelin’ Local).
In the end, I had fun, did work, and got some exercise. For me, this is part of finding my own balance.
LisaNewton´s last blog post..A Los Angeles Scavenger Hunt
for the most part, we are pretty balanced right now…..
when I drop the ball……..
The house is a wreck, and the kids whiny!
Annette´s last blog post..Twins 2, Mommy 0!
Evelyn – I spend a lot of time online too. Our internet access was out all weekend and it has been a pleasure not being online.
The Journey Within – Ahhh, balance is a matter of perspective. Hooray!
Lisa – Thanks for sharing. For some, combining activities (multi-tasking) helps people practice the art of life balance and others prefer single-minded activities to embrace the concept of life balance. It’s amazing how different life balance is for each and every one of us.
Annette – My house is usually a wreck, even when I am feeling balanced.
Well, it seems “there is always something” in life so if we wake everyday knowing that, we’ve already helped ourselves a lot.
I can be a bit of a worrier bytimes so when I get to feeling that way, I do some simple useful things for about an hour and feel on top of the world.
Jannie Funster´s last blog post..$69.97
Hi Stacey – fun and to the point! It certainly is an issue for an awful lot of people – it’s good people are acknowledging it and are looking for solutions.
Robin´s last blog post..Making The Most Of Life
I agree that schedules and a list that you actually look at and tick things off from are crucial to any semblance of life balance. For ages I resisted putting structure into my family/self employed lifestyle, and now I can’t recall why. I think I liked to imagine I was more free if I didn’t have structure in my work/creativity, and I was rebelling against the amount of routine in my family life.
But most certainly, life has improved since I worked out when I am most creatively productive and scheduled my work accordingly. It actually makes me feel more free because I can see what needs to be done and choose when to do it. I also try not to put too many tasks on my To Do list for one day, otherwise I am apt to feeling like a failure if not enough items are ticked off.
I really love creating and my online world, but trying to balance it with writing/editing work and my family can be a struggle. Especially since I also need alone veging out time if I am to create at all. There is an associated guilt with all this, a sense that I should be spending more time with my son, but I am trying to relax about this. Bunny does get plenty of mom time and he’s a happy kid, and for me to be a happy mom I need my stuff too. I am still chanting this a bit to get the message through, but I’m making progress.
Great video.
Kelly@SHE-POWER
Kelly@SHE-POWER´s last blog post..What’s the Secret to Enduring Friendships?
Jannie – I love feeling on top of the world – it makes me feel alive!
Robin – I agree. The more we talk about life balance and the more aware we are of the need for life balance, the more energy can find to practice the art of life balance.
Kelly – I understand your desire to rebel against routine. For me, I need to find a balance between routine and unstructured living.
That is a fun whimsical video! Balance – I definitely think it’s different for all people, and I also believe there are no equal parts. For me, when I’m busy, there are more dust bunnies under the bed than I’d care to admit. But for the most part I’m ok with that! Eventually I get to it.
In his comment, Lance mentioned having more fluidity and the wrench that often shows up. I’m not sure we can avoid the wrench. However, if we accept that a wrench will occur we might be better equipped to manage them through flexibility, adaptation and how we think about things.
Stacey Shipman´s last blog post..Podcast Wednesday: Does Acknowledgment Work in the Workplace? Interview with Chris Littlefield
Stacey Shipman – I completely agree with what you said about the wrench. To me I can relate this to my eating habits. There is always an excuse to eat and I have chocolate covered wrenches all over the place. Learning how to make good decisions and how to manage my environment is critical to maintaining and losing weight.