Flipping the Switch

Is the state of being unbalanced really so bad? Can you find a way to pour the right amount of time—often more than you believe is needed—into your relationships while further compressing your self-development time? Arnold Schwarzenegger, in one of his stage appearances, addresses people who claim not to have enough time in the day. His punchline and driving point is that when you truly break it down, it’s not that we need more time, but that we need to be more disciplined with our time. This includes both your self-development and your relationships.

With relationships, as with many other things, you often cannot rush certain aspects. Instead, you must be intentional, present, and patient. Your own development, whether physical, mental, spiritual, or otherwise, will also require these same qualities. All of this will require time and, at certain moments, may require a state of imbalance.

What if you became more disciplined with your time and learned to “flip the switch,” amplifying your focus and level of intensity to higher levels? Could you get more out of less time, or more out of the same time? To be able to switch gears quickly—flipping the switch—you must master the ability to turn off one switch as you turn on the next. In other words, you must be able to transition quickly from one area of extreme focus to the next with very little downtime in between. This level of agility is not easily mastered and requires practice.