Many people in their life try to be balanced in what they do, but is that really in their best interests if they want to be successful? The subtle differences between being’ balance’ and have real ‘priorities’ may determine whether or not you become successful. Here’s why.
Balance vs. having priorities – which one is right?
As the famous multi-millionaire American Businessman, Dan Peña, once said – work life balance just simply doesn’t exist. Yes, leaving your work early on a Thursday because you can, or being flexible in your hours may seem tempting to begin with. However, this is always going to come at a cost. Host Andrew Baxter makes it clear from the get-go that you can either have balanced or you can have priorities – they are mutually exclusive. For those who argue that having balance is one of their priorities in life is fine. However, keep in mind that this will come at a trade-off.
Being balanced is like being average – you’re ok at everything and good at nothing. Whereas those with a small amount of finite priorities tend to outperform others. This is given that they become a specialist at whatever they do. This more than often makes them much more successful over time. The price of admission to the school of success is a narrow focus and a strong couple of priorities. This will come at the expense of mostly everything else.
Emma’s 4 burner theory
Emma’s 4 burner theory is the tell-tale method to discover where your priorities lie, and how successful you are destine to become. Think of 4 burners on a stovetop:
- one is for your family.
- one is for your friends.
- the other is for your health and vitality.
- and the last is for your work and finances.
To be successful you have to choose just three of the burners in life, and to be really really successful in life – you can only pick two of them.
It makes total sense as picking one often sacrifices the other – as in the example that supreme fitness is your priority, this will most likely come at the expense of beers with the boys on a Friday night. This means that you can train hard the next morning. Let’s make one thing clear here, this is not about being the richest person in the cemetery. There is no right or wrong to do this, however, it can use as a great wireframe to allocate your life base on your personal objectives.
Use your vitality whilst you can
Now this part of the post is mainly direct at those who are still young and full of vitality. As this kind of philosophy can set you up for life. A piece of advice – give away the good opinion of others. Whilst your friends may be taking Instagram pictures on the Amalfi Coastline with their sponsored boardshorts, they probably don’t have much of an income. For example. Baxter’s recommendation is to use your vitality whilst you can, do the hard yards early in business and create your future wealth today.
This way in due time, you won’t be traveling Italy in a youth hostel, instead you’ll be travelling in your Jag or mega yacht. Of course, your priorities will shift as you get older and specifically have a family or long-term partner. This is often a time where your thirst and hunger for business and money wears off, thus it is imperative that you get your money hustle sorted early in life whilst you can.
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Winning the Game – creating structure and process
Let’s face it, success doesn’t fall out of the sky and it sure as hell doesn’t happen by accident. People become successful for two reasons:
- They are completely obsessed with success.
- They also structure everything to ensure they are working closer to their goals each day.
That poses the question, how do you look through your life with such a microscope and develop a process to help you do this?
Well this can be broken into four key components throughout the day to help you win the game of life. Your daily kickstart like meditating or exercising, your workday blast off to launch you into your day, and last your evening recharge to get set for the next day. This is exactly what Andrew both teaches AND preaches via Winning the Game – give it a try and see how successful you really can be. Just remember that success will always leave clues, and the ball is in your court.
