Balance, and why it’s important

I know it is tempting to work harder, or longer, to finish a project.

That’s great in theory, but the problem is that projects never end, and when you push yourself once, it’s easier to push even harder on the next project, and even harder on the next project still.

That kind of pace is unsustainable.

You will, hopefully, have a career that spans 50 years. You cannot possibly hope to maintain a breakneck pace for 50 years.

You’ll work yourself into an early grave.

Better to develop good habits now, ones that you can maintain for the long haul, and which will allow you to enjoy your life.\

Yes, life. That’s why you’re doing this, to have a life. A real, balanced life.

There will be times when you will have to grind it out and work extra hard, but that should be the exception, not the norm. I wrote 15 novels in 2018, which was breakneck for me. Between 2015 and 2018, I did over 100 appearances.

Both of those things nearly killed me. However, at least they had an end date. I told myself I would write 15 novels in one year so I would never have to do it again.

I said that I would do 100 shows in three years so I would never have to do it again. There was always an end date for my suffering, and when each project was done I reevaluated my life.

Perhaps you have a big goal, and you need to work harder than usual for one year, or maybe longer.

I’m not so naive to think that you won’t have to work hard sometimes. However, you are naive to think that it will not have an effect on your body in the future.

50 years.

That’s how long you will likely have your creative career.

It’s very easy for a breakneck pace to become the norm, and for us to settle into it, and then push ourselves ever harder with each passing year, but you will burn out if you do that.

There needs to be an endpoint. There needs to be balance in your life.

I have overclocked myself a lot in my life, and every time I did, I eventually burned out, often ending up in the hospital. I don’t know what it takes for you to lead a normal, comfortable life.

Everybody is different. Working 20 hours a day for the next decade definitely isn’t it, though. That is torturous suffering.

At the beginning of your career, you can handle that suffering, but I know so many people who maintain that schedule even 5-10 years into their career. If you don’t plan for it now, you never will. It doesn’t have to be a perfect plan, but it should be a plan that you can live with for the next five decades.

I know there is always tomorrow, but soon tomorrow becomes today. Faster than you know it, in fact. The years burn faster than you realize, and all the problems you pawned off on “future you” will come to bear.

You need to be intentional about this now. Don’t wait. Figure out how to lead a balanced life now. You don’t have to implement it immediately, but once you have a plan, you can work toward implementation.

My schedule most days looks like this:

6am – wake up

6am-9am – admin tasks

9am-2pm – writing time

2pm-5pm – exercise/rest/reading

5pm-7pm – catch up

7pm-9pm – hang out with family

Then, I sleep and repeat. Things often come up to knock myself off that schedule, but I built myself a lot of slack which allows me to catch up if that happens.

This is my schedule, and I’m not saying it will work for you. Heck, it often doesn’t work for me either, but it is my happy place. It is what I aspire my schedule to be like.

And that is a schedule I feel like I can maintain for the rest of my life.

Don’t put it off. Because when it’s too late, then it’s too late. Then, you’ll have burnt out and it’s even harder to recover when you don’t have anything left.