10 Steps to a Balanced Life - The Karmic Ally Way 2014

© Vatsala Shukla 2014 Karmic Ally Coaching http://karmicallycoaching.com
Ten Steps to a
Balanced Life
Tips to get back the balance in
Life that you crave with 10
simple practices. Do it the
Karmic Ally Way!
K

Introduction
Often we want to make our lives more balanced
but don’t know where to start. Even realising that
changes are required is a big step but the thought
of effort & stepping out of our comfort zone can
get in the way. A few changes can make a world
of difference.
Celebrating the third anniversary of the Karmic Ally
Coaching Experience and to thank you for your
support, I have compiled ten useful & practical tips
into this book to help you jump start your efforts to
lead a balanced life. One small step at a time can
make a big difference. Start today & I guarantee
that it will make your Life more balanced, happy &
accomplished. Use one or use all the tips.
Just begin the journey!
Feel free to distribute this ebook to your family and
friends to share the feeling of new beginnings!
Your friend in Spirit and Karmic Ally
Vatsala Shukla
Karmic Ally Coaching
Email: Vatsala@karmicallycoaching.com
Website: http://karmicallycoaching.com
Blog: www.karmicallycoaching.com/blog/

Be an example of the changes that you
want to see in the ones you love
Lead by example. You do it as a corporate
manager—do it at home!
If you want your spouse to start de-cluttering
his/her possessions then start by cleaning out
your own stuff. If you want your kids to spend
less time on the internet, then do it yourself
first. Follow Gandhi by being the change you
want to see. Stop forcing your family mem-
bers to change but rather show them what a
balanced lifestyle is truly about. Then they will
accept the transformation painlessly.
Life Balance Suggestion 1:
Stop complaining but rather appreciate your
time with the family. If there is something that
you want to change about your loved ones
then first consider, what habit can you
change that will inspire your loved ones to
follow your lead?
Write it down, create the most detailed plan
of action that you will stick to. Take time and
don’t expect them to go at your speed.

Create talking time with your family
members every day
Sharing your emotions, daily events, goals,
plans or simply discussing the movie that you
watched last night is an essential part of any
healthy relationship.
Even if you are tired after a long day make
some time for your loved ones. If something is
bothering you then tell your loves ones what is
going on.
Even though your family members know &
understand you better than anyone else they
still can’t read your mind. If you use dialogue
for conflict resolution and problem solving in
the office, would it not work on the home
front?
Starting Today, talk to your family members. It
doesn’t get simpler. That’s it.

Talk to your loved ones about their needs
& personal time
One key to staying balanced is to factor in
personal time to do our own thing. What we
call “Me Time”. A lot of times it’s hard for us to
find that time when we are trying to balance
our needs with the needs of our family mem-
bers. Your search for personal time can lead
to conflicts and misunderstanding with your
loved ones. Instead of focusing only on your
own needs start by talking to your partner
about his/her “me” time.
Let family members know that you support
their need for personal space & of course you
need the same support from them. Discuss
what you want to do during that time &
agree to keep each other accountable for
that time. By doing that you will keep your &
your family members’ life balanced. Making
sure that each family member can keep his/
her life in balance is the best way to keep
your family life balanced.

Listen & be aware
You have conversations all day long. When it
comes to the home front, how often do you
really hear what’s being said? Most of the
time your mind is wandering – to a project, a
corporate presentation or in formulating your
next response. The key to having productive
talks & balanced relationships is speaking less
& listening more.
Practice active listening. When talking to your
family members or friends see how long you
can go without letting your thoughts roam.
You’ll have a better idea of what this person
is saying & how you can use this information
to keep your relationship more balanced.
Besides, active and attentive listening shows
your loved ones that you appreciate them &
will make them more eager to hear what you
are saying.

Get clear on your priorities
The questions I am going to ask are difficult
because they require honesty & introspection
on your part.
 How does your job compare to other life
priorities: family, health, friends, social life,
spiritual needs, passion etc?
 What are you willing to put on the back-
burner & what do you need to put your full
focus on?
The problem with work/life balance starts
when we try to focus on too many things at
the same time. Superman and Superwoman
exist only in comic books & movies.
The art of work/life balance commences with
prioritizing activities in your life & learning to
compromise. When trying to balance our lives
we need to decide on what is most important
to us. A lot of times we have to challenge the
traditional patterns & make choices that let us
use our potential as well as be ourselves.

What’s more, there are many people who are
simply not cut out for balanced living.
For them, a state of equilibrium is different. If
they accept that fact then they will find their
personal state of equilibrium that lets them
work with passion & put amazing ideas into
life.
In high-school science, we were taught about
homeostasis— the tendency of all organisms
to seek equilibrium. As humans, we are com-
plex organisms and our sense of equilibrium
and balance may differ depending upon our
personalities. The key is what makes YOU feel
balanced.
Think of where your job is on your priority
scale. Just realizing the true meaning of work
in your life will help you make more balanced
decision later on.
Get clear on your priorities (cont’d)

Protect your “non-work" time
Your free or private time is a valuable asset
that you should protect at all costs. This is the
time that you utilise in the other areas of your
life to find balance & which enables you to
function at optimum efficiency at work.
When we think about work we usually have
certain hours that we have to spend working.
We do not even think about other activities at
that time. For some reason when it comes to
free time we forget how important it is.
Turn off your cell phone during the weekends
or put it on voice mail. Consider telling your
colleagues that you are not to be contacted
unless it is an emergency. If you work from
home then it is vital to designate office area
that you should not enter during your “off”
hours. When talking to your family members &
friends focus on pleasurable topics.
If contacting you for a work related issue is
really that important or urgent, people will
know how to find you.

Cut back on unnecessary activities
In Time Management, this is referred to as
wasted time. Unnecessary activities tend to
clutter our schedule stealing precious time
from the activities that we truly enjoy. Some of
these examples can be watching TV, surfing
the internet & Face book, meeting people
you don’t truly like etc.
Keep a day activity journal to understand
how your time is spent. Once you know and
understand your priorities, it will be easy to
spot those unnecessary activities or tasks. If
you can say that you can live without this
activity for a month (or forever!) then you can
spend your time doing more important &
meaningful things in life.
Start a day activity journal for a week paying
attention to everything that you do.
Which activity/task serves absolutely no
purpose in your life? Work on eliminating
these activities from your schedule one at a
time.

Make other people happy
Research has long shown that if you want to
instantly improve your mood, spread positive
energy. Be perceived as an intelligent,
happy, outgoing, attractive, interesting &
confident person. Smile more.
By sharing your smile with a negative client or
co-worker or just about anyone, you can
bring their mood up too which will make your
communication much easier. Smiling at
somebody triggers their mirror neurons, parts
of our brain that make us feel what we see
someone else experiences. (It’s the same
process that makes us yawn when someone
else yawns first.) The unhappy person in turn
feels happier, which changes how they treat
you and others.
Smile. Just smile. Be known as Sunshine and
not, hopefully Super Grouch!

Express Your Gratitude
Does it feel good to hear somebody thank
you for something? Be the person who always
thanks for the favours & help that you get.
Also be the one who appreciates his/her
friends instead of taking them for granted.
Use every opportunity to express gratitude for
the good things that happen in your life.
Things go wrong? Find something positive in
the experience.
Use it as a learning experience.
A positive attitude attracts more positivity into
your life & gratitude expressed to the Universe
brings more positive events into your life.
Find ways to tell your friends why you value
them so much. Give thanks for the things that
do go right in your life and find something
positive in the things that don't go the way
you want them to.

Start living Life at your own speed
Do you focus on the quality of your life or on
the speed of it?
We have a bunch of goals with (most of the
time) unreasonable deadlines. We don't stop
to think whether we picked good timing for
something. We try to bust through the walls &
achieve our goal no matter what without
ever asking whether it was an important
enough goal to work so hard for.
Life Balance Solution 10:
Take some time to slow down. This does not
mean to sit down and meditate or go out &
try to count the stars in the sky. Just think of
where you want to get to in life and reassess
your long term goals. Then look at the short
term goals & in honesty ask yourself if your
current goals will get you there & if you have
picked the right timing for everything. We can
accomplish pretty much anything we dream
about in life but for every dream we have to
pick the right time to bring it to life.

Your next step
By simply having read this book & following
easy everyday tips you will be well on your
way to balanced living. Don’t overwhelm
yourself by using too many tips at once. Pick
one tip and work on it for a couple of days.
See how the change feels & whether it is
something that you should keep in your life-
style. Once you feel that you have got the
hang of this balance step you can move on
to the next one. You might come up with a
few of your own!
I’d like to sincerely thank you for reading this
book and my weekly blog posts. For more life
balance tips & ideas, visit
http://karmicallycoaching.com/blog/
If you feel that you need more support, write
to me at Vatsala@karmicallycoaching.com.
If you are not yet ready for the full coaching
experience but would like to work on your
own, then I have a special option for you—a
special program that you can do from the
comfort of your own home and at your own
pace.

Your next step (cont’d)
The Karmic Ally Coaching Experience
LIFE FOCUS in 7 Days Program
This Program will help you lay the foundation
for creating a life that you absolutely love;
from the inside out. More often than not, we
get caught up in living our daily life with all of
its responsibilities that somewhere along the
way, we forget what it is that makes us happy
and need to find more self fulfillment.
In this Program, you will:
 Gain Clarity about what you really want your life to be about – your
dreams, goals & visions
 Do an effective Reality Check – where you are & where you want to be
 Learn to set goals that are S.M.A.R.T. to close that gap
 Set up structures to help you take consistent and clearly focused action
 Feel more empowered and realize your own capabilities
 Develop skills and abilities for future use to achieve your dreams and
goals of personal growth and professional development
 Replace your limiting beliefs and fears with affirmative positive thoughts
and beliefs
 Have a greater awareness of your own needs and how to meet them
 Reinforce your attitude and motivation to succeed in making the
changes that you know you need to make
Learn more here!
http://karmicallycoaching.com/life-focus-in-7-days/
To your balance & a happy fulfilling Life,
Vatsala

10 Steps to a Balanced Life - The Karmic Ally Way 2014

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