How to Work Double-Time Part Time for Full-Time Free Time

Balance is crap. The concept of balance is not only a discordant metaphor for how to spend your time but an ineffective strategy. Striving for "work-life" balance is an impractical standard; it's one that won't bring you the results you truly seek -- and it should be avoided.

By definition balance means "equal force in opposite directions," which implies that to be balanced our time and energy should be spread in a perfect distribution across various tasks we have in our life. But if we sleep eight hours a day and work eight hours a day, then to truly be balanced we could only do one other activity and it would have to be eight hours every day. That concept is absurd and outdated.

Success in business, at home, and in life doesn't come from applying our resources proportionately throughout different areas. In fact, it's just the opposite. Success usually is the result of focusing our talents, money, time or energy in one priority direction for a shorter period of time to create a desired result -- called a season. In one word, a season is best defined as imbalance.

• For example, if you were thousands of dollars in debt you wouldn't get out very fast if you were only paying off an extra $10 per month more than your minimum balance. You'd have to find a way to make sacrifices in other areas of your life to throw more and more money at your debt problem until it was gone.
• If you were 200 pounds overweight you likely wouldn't get the transformation you wanted by working out 10 minutes per week. Instead, you'd have to arrange your life for some time so you could work out more like 10 hours per week to get you to an acceptable level of heath.
• An entrepreneur would take forever to get her business off the ground by working just 30 minutes per week on the side. If it were going to be significant it would take much more time than that to get it started.

Think about a farmer... if they worked a balanced schedule throughout the year including the harvest season they would have much less production. When the harvest season comes they must work harder and longer because they only have a short window of time to maximize their reap! So, during harvest season farmers work up to 18 hours a day.

The beauty about imbalancing your resources in one direction for a short period of time is that once you create your desired result it is usually much easier to maintain that level of performance post-season. It becomes comfortable to consistently stay in the new range and usually requires much less effort and/or little thinking at all. A panoramic view of a season and post season leads us to the strategy of "working double-time part time for full-time free time."

• Once you get out of debt and you have no monthly payments its much easier to get rich and stay out of debt.
• After you get into shape it's pretty easy to stay in shape working out just a couple times a week and having only a semi-strict diet.
• A successful business should eventually become a revenue-producing asset for the owner with only fractional time spent managing it once all of the necessary systems and people to make it run have been implemented.

All of these are examples of the payoff resulting from embracing a "double-time part time for full-time free time" strategy. The metaphor of a season not only makes more practical sense when applied to every area of daily life but is also the actual practice of "well-balanced" high performing people.

Here are three interconnected elements for advancing your mindset from "Time Management" to "Season Management":

1. Redefine Balance: Balance isn't equal time spread across equal activities; it's appropriate time spread across critical priorities. Don't worry about the quantity of time you are spending on something but instead focus on quality of time. In other words, don't measure success by the amount of time you're spending on something -- measure success simply by the results you're achieving.
2. Imbalance Seasonally: Decide what your top 1-2 priorities are for right now and throw yourself fully in those directions for a short period of time. Once your focus has allowed you to achieve the desired result then select new priorities (perhaps in a different area of life) to zone in on.
3. Say No: One of the natural by-products of the season mindset is that your intense short-term focus on a few items will cause you to have to turn other opportunities down. It's hard to do, but being able to say no to things you shouldn't be doing is one of the most defining characteristics of what separates top performers from average performers. You'll have to learn how to say no and you'll have to learn to be okay ignoring the small stuff temporarily while you focus on the big stuff.

"Balance" is more often an excuse for justifying underperformance than it is a valid explanation for why we're not achieving the results we want in the different areas of our life. Balance is not a benchmark you should be measuring yourself by, and it's not a standard that will bring you a life you love.

Embrace the season. Embrace the focused imbalance. Embrace working double-time part time and you shall soon embrace the full-time free time.

For more by Rory Vaden, click here.

For more on GPS for the Soul, click here.

 

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Comments

[MomCorps]

10:29 AM on 09/11/2012

"Striving for "work-life" balance is an impractical standard"--couldn't agree more. This is a fantastic piece with metaphors that truly paint a picture as to why balance is ineffective. Look forward to promoting this piece via Mom Corps social media as it's a timeless and necessary message we must spread.--Allison O'Kelly, founder/CEO Mom Corps

[Alvarask]

08:02 AM on 08/13/2012

When I decided to seek balance in my life it wasn't about time so much as about energy. I wasn't seeking anything more than a sense of peace and a feeling that the time AND energy I was spending was being spent in ways that were meaningful to me. To achieve that I eventually discovered that I needed to have more of the energy-increasing stuff of being at home walking barefoot on the grass and in my house and laughing with my family and less time spent in an increasingly hostile over-competitive and energy-depleting work environment. The only balancing required to make that work involved the family budget.

[forred20]

07:10 PM on 08/08/2012

I should have balanced my time better before clicking on this article.Weak article with weaker examples of striving for balance in one's life. We all make time/money/personal sacrifices to achieve the balance we are looking for. Everyone's priorities are different and can't be summed up in a few paragraphs.

That's a few minutes, I'll never get back LOL.

[Jaime Staalenburg]

05:39 PM on 08/14/2012

You should read his other stuff, he's right and he expands on his idea. From a small business owner perspective I agree with him. You missed the point, which is if you want to get something done you throw yourself at it with everything you've got...instead of doing it half assed and not making much headway until later on because you've spread yourself so thin.

[hauntingsummer]

12:12 PM on 08/08/2012

When some people say they want to find more balance in their life or specifically between work and home they just mean they want to focus less on work, bring work home less, and feel less overwhelmed by work and be able to enjoy and feel present in their home life. They don't mean they want to split their life 50/50 between work and home. Balance also means not "falling" and getting sucked into one part of life and neglecting another, and becoming overworked.
I agree with the article as far as not chopping up the day to 8 hours of sleep, 8 of work and 8 of another activity but I don't know ANYBODY who thinks of "balance" in this way or uses this outdated, as the author calls it, way of prioritizing the day.

[cadreams3]

02:57 PM on 08/08/2012

Really. This article is just ridiculous. He's taking the term "balance" and is using it literally. When people talk about "balance" in their lives they don't mean that we are literally putting the same effort into all parts of our lives.

[Jaime Staalenburg]

05:40 PM on 08/14/2012

No, he's talking about how people try to balance their lives and it doesn't work because they aren't focused on what needs to happen and they're applying too little to too much. It's a simple concept that is apparently impossible to grasp for some...

[apich001]

07:10 PM on 08/08/2012

agree.

[DaviaTemin]

11:44 AM on 08/08/2012

I cannot tell you how much I LOVE this article. Finally, you are naming reality! I don't think we can bear one more fatuous article on work/life balance. We all know it is nigh on impossible...so writing about it is not only a monumental waste of time, it is dangerous because it sets up expectations that will almost never come true. This article gives supremely valuable advice, that is not only realistic, but uncommon and uncommonly helpful. Now I have begun to read everything this author has written, because it is truly valuable. Thanks so much

[NancyPeske]

08:38 PM on 08/11/2012

I feel the same way! It was a helpful validation.
That said, it can be hard to decide on what the priority is. Improving your eating habits? Reaching a particular financial or career goal? Spending time with family that has been neglected due to other priorities?
I think the key is not second guessing yourself. I well remember my husband saying to me once when I was completely overwhelmed, "What do YOU need to do right now?" Was it caring for my dying mother? Self-care? Spending time just enjoying my child? Sleeping? Sometimes, it's hard to know. But I do think when you check in with your inner knowing, the "right" answer comes.

[Richard Gaudreau]

08:34 AM on 08/08/2012

That sacrificing the balance of life on occasion to achieve a short term goal is sometimes necessary is hardly news. Many of us do that as necessary without too much fuss. Dramatizing this message by denigrating the overall goal of a balanced life just invites the very problems it was designed to
prevent -- a one-sided personality that has blinders on to everything but work, and of necessity regards things like family relationships as distractions. Achieving success at that price is frankly too easy. The real success in my opinion is finding a way to achieve it without sacrificing a personal life.

[grankov]

09:15 AM on 08/08/2012

Agree

[KarmaPatrol]

08:34 PM on 08/07/2012

The time to work extra is when employers are paying a premium, .. now employers can demand extra more for less renumeration, a Plan B ("take this job and shove it" Plan) and an appropriately balanced portfolio are worth their weights in gold. That said, time doesn't wait before enjoying life. When successful, relatively young people in their prime like Steve Jobs and Adam Yauch kick the bucket despite wealth and fame, it's time to realize there's more to life than only money and career.

[mymindfulyear]

03:16 PM on 08/07/2012

"'Balance' is more often an excuse for justifying underperformance than it is a valid explanation for why we're not achieving the results we want in the different areas of our life."

Really? So every person who decides that they might need to take a little break from a crushing work schedule (to keep their sanity) is simply a whiner? Work above all else because you're at the whim of an employer who demands it? Just suck it up?! This author is quite out of touch and this was a really poor article.

[An Thrope]

01:39 PM on 08/07/2012

This entire article hinges on a rediculously narrow definition of what "balance" means, then argues with itself. Lame.

[NOTSUPERMOM]

09:51 AM on 08/08/2012

That was exactly my thought as I read it. I want my minute back. :)

[Richard McRae]

01:02 PM on 08/07/2012

I think you're taking a pretty narrow and literal definition of the word "balance." I find a balance between work and personal lives that makes me feel as if my time is being appropriately. Right now that means working 10 hour days at work and not doing a thing on weekends. It doesn't mean I count how many hours I was at one, then equal them in other pursuits.

Not all activities are created equal, and not all scales have to have the same amount of weight on each side to balance. Balance doesn't mean both sides are equal - it means that both sides exert the same amount of force, and you just have to let your fulcrum sit where is most comfortable for you.

[Alvarask]

07:56 AM on 08/13/2012

Oh this is a good answer! Excellent. Fanned and faved!

[Norcal2]

11:43 AM on 08/07/2012

This article makes absolutely no sense to me.

In my opinion, a life without balance is a nightmare.

I've been there and don't like it.