Oftentimes, people have a faulty definition of what balance really means. They believe that balance equals serenity, satisfaction, and would allow them to give every facet of their lives the attention it deserves.
The truth of the matter is, balance in life means that you’re in a state of equilibrium, where everything is in harmony. In order to achieve that state, you need to stay as you are in order to not break that balance.
When everything stays exactly the same, you can never improve on yourself lest you upset that harmony in your life. We’re talking about that same harmony where your job might drain you physically or psychologically, your relationship with your significant other might drain you emotionally, all your recreational activities seem like such a huge effort and your only satisfaction would be sleep to relax, and even that might be sacrificed in order to maintain harmony.
Who would want that? Every single day here at ASPI, we give you tips and quote studies that are intended to get you bigger, make you stronger and faster, help you lose weight and improve your quality of life.
What you need to understand is that you won’t be able to do any of that if you’re in that equilibrium state we talked about. When you make gains, you’re inherently going against that balance because your body is adapting to change, so the first thing to understand is that you need to get rid of that harmful mentality.
That doesn’t mean you should hyperfocus on one thing and one thing only! Rather, you need to set a hierarchy of priorities in order to truly maximize your growth.
What Are Your Priorities in Life?
In your life, the state of equilibrium is actually a lie. Because while you might be satisfying every facet of your life externally, you’re sacrificing your own inner balance by trying to give equal weight to everything. You might find yourself grumpy, spiteful, and irritated.
All these things are antagonists of growth. What you need to do instead is to set your priorities in life. Segment your priorities into A, B, and C types, and start by taking a deep look into what really needs your attention and what you can give away.
Your type-A priorities would be things that you absolutely have to get done. Not addressing these priorities will most probably cause you significant harm, physically, mentally, or emotionally.
Your type-B priorities are things that demand your attention, they’re really good to have and they bring you a lot of benefits.
Your type-C priorities are what you really need to look out for. They might be interesting to engage in, like watching a TV show or hanging out with your friends. But at the end of the day, they won’t really change your life that much.
An A-type priority might be keeping your significant other happy and content, if you stop doing that, or you put something else above their happiness, you’re going to see everything else in your life become negatively affected!
However, if you have some deadbeat friends that want to hang out with you, these would be relegated to a type-C priority–you might want to stop hanging out with them or tell them you’re busy more often. Friends who support and boost your progress, on the other hand, would be higher up in the hierarchy of priorities.
Applying Priorities to Bodybuilding
If you start segmenting everything that demands your attention in life into priorities, you’ll see yourself making more gains than if you had stayed focused on achieving balance in your life.
Where does improving your body fall in your priorities ladder? Even if it’s in the middle of the ladder, you’ll give more attention to it than if you were trying to live in a state of equilibrium, giving everything equal importance.
However, you need to understand that your bodybuilding career can be further segmented into priorities–you can’t train every part of your body, after all! For example, if training your quads is your number one priority this week, you’re going to need to center most of your training around your quads.
Get rid of any other exercises or distractions that stop you from addressing your number one priority, and focus on the things you’re good at while getting rid of everything you aren’t.
We hope this article gave you some clarity on how to prioritize your life, including your training. We’ll see you again in the next article!
