Quotes About Balance

Consciously lingering in pleasurable downtime reminds us that we have downtime. And that can make us feel like we have more time than when we let is slip through our hands.

Building a career—and raising a family—are meaningful activities, but they require a lot of energy. To do our best, we need time we can count on to recharge, apart from these obligations. We need time to do things we find intrinsically energizing for ourselves, as individuals.

So, each week, take one evening (or an equivalent number of hours) off from family and work responsibilities and do something that makes life feel meaningful and fun. This evening or block of weekend time can be spent as you wish, but ideally, it features a commitment to an activity, like playing on a softball team, being part of a community drama troupe, or, like Hannah, going to a regular meet-up with specific people for a specific purpose.

come from this rule. One night off can change the entire rhythm of the week. If your night off is Tuesday, you feel more tranquil during a rough Monday-night bedtime routine, because you know this mini-vacation is coming up. You manage your energy during the Tuesday workday so that you've got plenty for the evening. You think through potential problems and ways

Success in a competitive world requires hitting Monday refreshed and ready to go. The only way to do that is to create weekends that rejuvenate you rather than exhaust or disappoint you.

Time is elastic. It stretches to accommodate what we choose to put into it.

Why we all need a night off I developed this rule because I have seen the difference it makes in my own life, a difference not dissimilar from the glow Hannah developed. I love to sing. So I've made a habit of seeking out community choirs wherever I live. After moving to New York City in 2002, I joined three ensembles as a way to get my work-from-home-self dressed and out of the apartment at least three evenings per week.

A mucha de la gente que siempre llega tarde le gusta complacer a otros.

What the most successful people know about weekends is that life cannot happen only in the future. It cannot wait for some day when we are less tired or less busy. If you work long hours, then weekends are key to feeling like you have a life that is broader than your professional identity—even if, and probably because, you take that identity very seriously.

Your turn GIVE YOURSELF A BEDTIME Planning questions: What time would you like to wake up most mornings? About how many hours of sleep do you need on an average night? What time do you generally need to be in bed in order to get this amount of sleep? This is your bedtime.

How to build a resilient schedule Creating a back-up slot for the things that matter starts with figuring out what matters. I asked Tranquility by Tuesday participants to think about things that were important to them but had a tendency to get bumped from the schedule. Maybe it's a Saturday-morning long run with a friend that keeps getting canceled because of rain or complicated family schedules.

Plan on Fridays Expectations are infinite. Time is finite. We are always choosing. Choose well.

Just as an outdoor graduation ceremony needs its own specific rain date, the most important activities in your life need specific back-up slots. That said, creating specific back-up slots can get unwieldy as the priorities stack up. We also don't always know, during Friday planning, everything we'll need to do by the end of the next week. So here's a practical shortcut for this rule: Get in the habit of leaving regularly scheduled open space in your schedule. That

Para cada día de una semana completa, planea una actividad de entre 10 y 20 minutos que involucre algo que te parezca disfrutable. Éstas son algunas opciones: Observar la puesta de sol. Sentarse en la terraza de una cafetería para tomar una buena taza de capuchino. Visitar una librería en tu hora de comida. Ir a pasear a un parque cercano.

As Anatole France once wrote, "Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.

Conscious fun takes effort. This seeming paradox—Why should fun be work?—stops us in our tracks. So we overindulge in effortless fun (scrolling through Instagram posts about dinner parties), and underindulge in effortful fun (throwing a dinner party ourselves). But "although minutes spent in boredom or anxiety pass slowly," writes Grudin, "they nonetheless add up to years which are void of memory.

The majority of people who claim to be overworked work less than they think they do, and many of the ways people work are extraordinarily inefficient. Calling something "work" does not make it important or necessary.

What the most successful people know about weekends is that life cannot happen only in the future. It cannot wait for some day when we are less tired or less busy. If you work long hours, then weekends are key to feeling like you have a life that is broader than your professional identity—even if, and probably because, you take that identity very seriously. The marathoner knows that rest days and cross-training days spur physical breakthroughs.

Finalmente, el autocontrol te permite relajarte porque elimina el estrés y te da la capacidad de conservar fuerza de voluntad para enfrentar los desafíos importantes.

As with the principals tracking their time, it is this second step, envisioning how a schedule could look, and the third step, holding yourself daily to this design, that leads to time freedom.

The question is just how much. One big adventure and one little adventure creates a good balance. The weekend can feel memorable, and still not come close to being exhausting.

Calling something "work" doesn't make it a more noble use of time than anything else. Work that doesn't advance you toward the life you want is still wasted time.

I find this doable if I "plan tight, then plan light"—a mantra that many Tranquility by Tuesday participants reported finding helpful. This means designating times on Monday and Tuesday for all of the week's high-priority tasks. The minutes at the beginning of the week will feel a little full, but this is balanced by leaving the schedule more fluid later in the week. Any must-dos and want-to-dos should

So here's my take: If you are fantasizing about a spa day or an uninterrupted cup of coffee, please schedule these things into your life. And then create back-up slots too. I promise it will all fit. As you build the habit of creating a resilient schedule, there will be fewer crises, and more space will open up. Then you can use this space however you want.