I want to talk to you today about creating a Zen work-life balance, how it can transform what precious time you have left here on this earth, and as a result, give you the body, energy, and presence you need to be the best man, Husband, and Dad possible.
We’ll address why you need to balance your life, and what that means for your body and mind, and how fitness is the key non-negotiable to be consistent with.
And we’ll uncover how to ruthlessly defend your time so you don’t constantly feel out of balance.
Now, let’s get into how you can create a Zen work-life balance!
make your life a balancing act
Life itself is about creating and maintaining balance.
Think about it.
Anytime you are out of balance physically or mentally, you get illness, aches, pains, and injuries.
These are your body’s way of signalling that something is out of balance. These are the ups and downs of life.
Buddhism has the concept of The Middle Way, which means to have a practical life, to avoid the extremes of self-denial and self-indulgence, like never eating any carbohydrates, or going all out on Junk Food.
Taoism talks of the balance between Yin and Yang, like good and bad, stillness and movement, being and doing, calmness and anger.
The aim is to balance both ends of the spectrum.
There are times when you need to work more, and times when you need to rest. Listen for the signals, and then act on them quickly.
But this requires an internal dialogue with yourself, and the body awareness that comes from getting in shape.
When I operated my Martial Arts School, I saw this concept of a lack of balance play out in many new students.
They would come wanting to learn Martial Arts, but soon realise their life was also out of balance, especially if they became frustrated with the learning process.
When we practised Shadowboxing, this was highlighted. If you don’t know, Shadowboxing is where you pretend to fight with an imaginary opponent in Martial Arts – You get to practice your punches, kicks, blocks, feints, footwork etc. without outside influence.
It’s one of the best training tools there is to learn how to fight and defend yourself.
But many would struggle to know which hand was which, and which leg to put in front of the other.
It’s as if they were learning to walk again.
Those who learnt too slowly were not balanced in their emotions, and their approach to learning.
Taking your fitness seriously is the biggest lever for building this awareness and balance in mind, body, and spirit.
fitness as a non-negotiable in your daily routine
Many Dads I speak to say they’ll start training when they have time.
It’s a fallacy. You’ll never have more time.
Think about it, as you grow with age, and take on more responsibilities, things go up and down, and life gets more hectic.
The difference between those who get in shape and use that as a vehicle to improve every other part of their lives, and those who don’t prioritise their health and fitness is simple.
The Dads who decide to make time, end up keeping up with the habit when things are extra busy or extra tough.
So if you can stay in shape at your busiest, you can definitely do so in quiet periods.
Remember, this is a lifelong habit you want to form right?
Not just for next summer like the next fad right?
One survey reports that most adults (56%) are aware they need to practice better time management.
Unfortunately, between work, family, and other obligations, many say they’re just too tired to stay productive.
So what’s the solution to being too tired?
It’s creating more energy in your life.
Ironically, with training, you have to expend energy to create the energy back in your body in the form of more vitality, confidence, drive, libido etc.
The ROI from training in research has shown that workplace health programmes can result in a 29% increase in productivity.
This is much higher from what I have seen personally with students, and even with myself.
ruthlessly defend your time
Most people feel out of balance as they don’t have any parameters in place to guard their time.
If you don’t take each of the 86,400 seconds of your day intentionally, then this is for you.
Not to say don’t relax, far from it.
Just be intentional about it.
The average person nearly loses a month of their life every year while doing absolutely nothing!
In the previously mentioned survey, it also says the average adult wastes a staggering 26 days per year to “wasted time.”
This amounts to 2 hours/day wasted on things like scrolling Social Media, being stuck in traffic, waiting in line etc.
What could you do better with that time?
Read Warrior Dad Letters whilst waiting in line.
Make that call you’ve been putting off whilst the kettle is boiling.
How much more balanced would your life be without all that waste?
“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” – Bruce Lee
And if you don’t love life, then deeper questions need to be asked.
I was the worst at time management, and I used the excuse of being Sri Lankan to get away with it.
The culture is living on island time, and it’s how things go when I stay there. And it’s also how it runs in my family here in the UK, even though they’ve been here for over 50 years. It’s the culture, which is extremely hard to change.
I would never be on time, or even get things done on time.
So I ended up taking this mentality to FitRoots.
I worked long hours, just thinking that I needed to work more, to make more money, and impact more.
But the problem was how I was managing my time, not how long I was working.
After years of trial and error, I landed on a simple method to fix my relationship with time management.
I get my students to do a Time Audit.
To do it, just document your current schedule, then create your ideal schedule.
The key is to figure out a strategy to bridge the gap.
After, we use Time Blocking methods, and other strategies to make your Ideal Schedule part of your new life.
On average, find students get 2+ hours back/day.
If you want the Time Audit document I made, just DM me on Instagram with “TIME” – I’ll send it your way.
takeaways to create a zen work-life balance
So there you have it. This is how you can create a Zen work-life balance!
Let’s recap:
1. Make your life a balancing act – Life itself is about creating and maintaining balance. Listen for the signals, and then act on them quickly. Have an internal dialogue with yourself, and build the body awareness that comes from getting in shape.
2. Make fitness a non-negotiable in your daily routine – If you can stay in shape at your busiest, you can do so in quiet periods. Creating more energy in your life. With training, you have to expend energy to create the energy back in your body in the form of vitality, confidence, drive, libido etc.
3. Ruthlessly defend your time – Most people feel out of balance as they don’t have any parameters in place to guard their time. Do a Time Audit. Document your current schedule, then create your ideal schedule. You’ll probably get 2+ hours back/day.
That’s all for today. See you next week for why Dads need to lead by example.
I’ll share how that will help you create behaviours and actions you want your children to model, and how you can be their greatest coach 👀
here are three ways i can help you to create a zen work-life balance
Your Fitness Battle Plan – Ready to build your Warrior’s physique in just 30 minutes a day? Let’s chat. Book a quick call with me.
Check out my YouTube – I’m sharing the step-by-step processes my students and I follow to get AND stay in shape year-round.
Connect with me on LinkedIn – For more training systems, fitness tips, and ancient Martial Arts wisdom.
Maintain Order Warriors 
