Week 12 – Juggling and Balancing Many Goals – How to put your all into everything you do

Week 12 – Juggling and Balancing Many Goals – How to put your all into everything you do

Something has always fascinated me. How can humans pursue many goals without neglecting them?

This hit me. I didn’t know if I agreed or not. When we have many goals in our lives, do we end up neglecting some of them?

It might be neglect. Or simply, it’s that sometimes in our life, different goals take priority.

This example is going to be the mainstay of today’s post: I am a degree apprentice trying to juggle many things:

• Being an active blogger
• Committing to my children’s charity
• Practising the tabla
• Going to the gym consistently
• Maintaining and nurturing my friendships and relationship.

Some think this lifestyle is impossible. I am going to argue that you just need the right tools around you.

So, let’s break it down: What is the key issue when balancing many pathways to progress? We don’t have enough time.

We don’t have enough time to commit to these goals.

Laura Vandermann suggests that when we are planning our week, we often say we don’t have time to hike, spin, and cook.

But when push comes to shove, we sometimes have to make time. We may come home and see water leaking everywhere. We have no choice but to balance fixing this problem while enjoying all our other hobbies.

Time is elastic, every minute you choose how to spend it. If your priorities are hiking and doing a spin class, then you will make time for it.

The problem is not about fitting those goals into your calendar. It is the fact that those goals are not worth your time.

So, to combat this issue, we need to make our goals like the leaking water, something that is worth our time.

For me, when I started the degree apprenticeship, I didn’t realise what was a priority for me. In the first few months, I spiralled after trying to do many different hobbies that were not a priority for me.

I had to realise that along with my job, these five priorities (above) genuinely matter to me. Thus, I chose to commit to these throughout each minute of the day.

Let’s go to the psychology of managing our workload.

Cal Newport stated in his blog that those who manage their goals often do so because they are seeking a deep life. This doesn’t mean wanting to sit in your chair philosophizing about reality and what it means.

Simply put, we want a life that enriches our minds, bodies, and souls. We like to develop skills and memories that are associated with this. All that we do, we want to look back at with pride.

This translates to our approach towards many pathways for progress. Jim Collins created the hedgehog concept. I believe this is how we should approach the task of juggling our goals.

From the offset, we need to ensure that all the goals in our life focus on these three things:

There is only one substitute I want to make. Instead of the economic engine, change it to the energy stores that we talked about a few weeks ago. Each goal should be willing to drive your:

• Mental,
• Physical,
• Spiritual or,
• Economic engine.

If this happens, you are already primed for balance.

So, once we have this mindset of fulfilling our energy stores, we are more likely to succeed in balancing.

I tried to figure this out:

• Mental – Blog and Friendships / Relationship,
• Physical – Gym
• Economic – Job
• Spiritual – Tabla

But how do we figure this out? How do we know what goals we need to find to achieve this balance?

Here is the answer.

Completing the Wheel of Life allows you to audit where you want your priorities and balance to lie.

Place a dot of where you are at now and then where you want to be in a different colour.

A dot further out shows how much priority you are giving it.

Ali Abdaal said the best people who balance their time are those who are intentional towards it. In other words, they actively choose where to focus their energy.

So, complete the Wheel of Life to understand what you want your ideal life to look like with balance. Is your career your focus, is it your health, or is it a mix of all of the areas?

From this, Vandermann suggests to make a plan that looks back from the end of next year. Write down from the perspective of the end of next year. In each of these categories, what do you want to look back on with pride?

For me, it was clear:

• One opportunity taken in the job each month,
• One date a month with my girlfriend,
• Learning a new tabla song each month,
• Getting into a leaner physique.

This is all great theory and planning, but how do I put this into practice, you might ask. ‘Dylan, what the fuck do you mean by all this?’

Once we have done this audit and know where we want our priorities to be in the next year, we can start to use our time wisely.

For this, Ali Abdaal has a clear method:

1. Open a fresh Google Calendar / Notion Calendar,
2. Fill our your ideal week (including those priorities). What times in the days do you want to be working, when do you want to go to the gym and when do you want to take time for yourself?
3. For me, I then note down in this calendar what my non-negotiables for the day are. Some things can be moved around but what is one thing in that day that you must do?
4. At the end of every week, use this ‘Ideal Week’ calendar to plan out your week in reality. Even if you are going out clubbing in the evening, ensure that at 4pm, you go on your walk. Even if you have an exam, ensure that you call your parents for a catchup
5. Whatever is high on that priorities list for you, ensure that you get it done. BIf you plan it, you are more likely to do it.

For me, here is how I did it:

1. The working hours were a non-negotiable: 9-5pm I was at the office, and if I had made plans, they would not get moved.
2. Things that could be moved around: my gym session or cardio and when I would commit to the blog.
3. Then, each Sunday, I use my calendar to plan out my week so all priorities are hit, and I am striving for progress.

Now, let’s jazz it up. Some of you may think that this is difficult, with it taking a lot of time? Here is how AI can help:

1. Write down on a spreadsheet or document what the wheel of life said. Note down from there what things you want to get done this week.
2. Ask ChatGPT to make your ideal day based on these priorities and what your non-negotiables are.
3. Adjust it to how you see fit.

Look at this example prompt:

1. Hey, my Wheel of Life suggested that I need to focus more on my relationships and friendships this week. This is in line with my goals for the others, including [list all goals]. Knowing that I wake up at [x] and go to sleep at [x], construct an ideal week for me to make progress towards these goals.

This is your hack to balance your goals effectively. So here is my weekly challenge:

1. Do a self-audit of your goals using the Wheel of Life.
2. Prioritise these goals.
3. With the help of AI, construct your ideal week.
4. Adjust according to your week to achieve all targets.

I guarantee that these tactics will make you better at balancing and juggling your goals.

Have a great week 🙂

Dylan