--Balance your life now-- with this simple and effective mind tool | Mental tools part 3

This mind tool is essential to live a balanced life. Some of us have instinctively a version of this tool already developed, but it is not really conscious, and therefore we can loose it.

In Part 1 of this series we showed the motivation mind tool and on Part 2 we showed the discipline and habit-forming mind tool.

Motivation and discipline is still not enough to have balance?

These two mind tools a extremely important, but, even if we are motivated and disciplined, we can still neglect important parts of our lives and focus on just a few. Thus creating imbalance that brings with it negative experiences and feelings.

You know how it is, you can focus on work and health, and both of those areas get great, but you notice that you lack social interactions. This was just an example of imbalanced areas that might develop if we are not paying attention. Other people might have other imbalances.

We are in luck though, as there are mental tools we can develop to help us keep balance. And once they're developed, they will be part of us and they're almost effortless.

Balance is essential.
Img source: freeimages.com/photo/southbound-train-1440046

The buckets mind tool

To set up this tool we need to think about broad and general important parts of our lives, let's call them buckets, and at first write them down somewhere. Maybe put them on a wall in your room. But after some time we will have them always ready in our mind.

Of course, not everyone will have the same buckets, but I am sure that most of us will have similar ones.

To better present this tool, let's pick 4 buckets, that I choose for myself, and that might apply to a lot of people. Again, you can choose more or less buckets and from different areas of your lives.

But I do suggest to not have too many of them, because you might find it hard to remember or attend to all of them. If you feel that you have too many, maybe you can think of a bucket that contains other buckets ;)

Become a balance master.
Img source: freeimages.com/photo/goat-standing-on-tree-branch-1365774

Omg..what is with this buckets already?

Ok, here are my 4 buckets:

1. Mind/Body health . These two are together because "Mens sana in corpore sano". That is latin for "a healthy mind in a healthy body".

2. Social life . Family, friends and acquaintances. Social-media-only connections do not count, some real-life connections are necessary.

3. Professional life

4. Purpose/Spirituality

Find your balance.
Img source: freeimages.com/photo/stone-tower-1390084

Here is how this mind tool works

Every day you have to attend to ALL buckets. Don't get scared. Attend to all of them everyday, for a minimum of 10 minutes. That's it. You can do that.

Of course, the time you offer to each bucket will not be equal, that would be near impossible. But, the important thing is to NOT NEGLECT any bucket.

We have what, approximatively 16 wake hours. To attend to all 4 buckets for 10 minutes each is 40 minutes. This is more than doable.

After a while, if you feel that you only gave 10 minutes per day to a specific bucket and not more in the last 7 days, then you should pick a day in the near future where you can offer that bucket at least an hour. You know, because you almost neglected it and because it's an important part of your life.

Here is the visual version of what I presented above:

That's this. This is the balance mind tool, or bucket tool if you prefer :)

Use this tool every day for at least a week and see the benefits for yourself.

Use it for a few weeks, and you will notice that this tool will become part of you. You would have incorporated it. And now you have an extra mind tool that makes you more balanced and awesome overall.

Sources for this article:
This post is entirely written by me, but, during the years I have acquired knowledge and information present in this article from:

• the book of Jonathan Fields: How to Live A Good Life
• my general life experiences

All images have the sources directly below them. Those that do not, are made by me :)

This was part 3 from the "Mental tools" series. Here is Part 1 and Part 2 in case you missed them. Since I saw that there is interest in posts like this, I will continue the series, stay tuned.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave them in the comments.
Thank you for reading, I really hope some of you will try these tools and use them in your lives. I use them in mine.