ARE YOU LIVING AN “AND” LIFE?

The journey of Entrepreneurship is not an easy one! Everybody knows that!
What’s new in that? You have a business, you work towards building it into a scalable and profitable one.
Along the way you need to make sure you are proactively managing your business to the best of your abilities.

But, in this journey, do you ever take a pause to reflect on how it is affecting every other area of your life?
If you’re not leading a balanced life, then the repercussions will reflect in your business as well.
If your home life is conflicted and stressful then you bring that energy to work everyday. It affects your body language, the way you speak to your clients and the way your team looks at you. So, leading a balanced, holistic life is a must for entrepreneurs no matter what stageof business they are at.

Most entrepreneurs ignore the aspect of balance in their work and personal lives. In order to keep things up and running, they focus only on the growth of their business, ignoring everything else. They choose business over health, family, friends, relationships, personal time, peace of mind, eating and even sleeping. All they think of is business and the problems they are facing. So much so that it’s always business or health, business or tennis, business or family dinners and so on and so forth. They start living a life where business always wins! They lose all sight of selfhood, the ability to be aware of their surroundings and become ignorant towards family, friends and themselves. In short, they start living the “OR” life.
Where they are choosing business over everything else.

The right way to live is when you’re living the ‘AND’ Life, instead of the ‘OR’ Life.

Is this relatable?

Think.
When did you last spend time with your family without being distracted by constant phone calls? When did you last play with your child without a laptop by your side? When was your last carefree vacation? Is your lifestyle healthy enough for all those health issues you’re facing? Have you eaten with your family in a while? Have you given yourself a moment to breathe, watch the sunset, smell the rain or comfort your
better half? Are you truly happy? If not, what makes you happy?

When we are truly aware of what makes us happy, what makes us angry, what excites us, exhausts us, moves us emotionally, inspires us and lifts our spirits; it is only then that we can live a happy and fulfilling life. Once we have the answers to all these questions, we can start compartmentalizing, organizing and we can start living the “AND” life.

Living the “AND” life is to live a balanced life, led by being aware of yourself and your surroundings. It is when you are focused on yourself and everything else that truly matters to you. You organize and prioritize yourself in a way that leads you towards living a holistic life which results in your happiness and success. You manage and balance your professional and personal life. You give equal importance to yourself, your health, family, relationships, recreation, spirituality, and contribution as you would to your business/ career. You set goals for yourself in each of these segments and give yourself time and space to grow as an individual.

When we live the “AND” life, we always choose everything that is essential. Business AND health, career AND family, work AND hobbies, office AND holiday. The “AND” life makes it easier to think clearly, make better judgments, and keeps us stress-free. It makes us accomplished on an individual level, makes us happier, gives us time to breathe, clears our minds, and makes the people around us happier too.

Once we start living this way, time management and focus becomes effortless and we find ourselves to be happier and more energetic mentally and physically. True happiness, deep fulfillment, and absolute joy are created only when we have clarity of where we want to be in every area of our life and move forward persistently in each of those directions.