Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Nine Simple Ways to Find Your Balance and Get Your Life Back with John R. Miles EP 124

Starting point is 00:00:00 In 2005, an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the study rise in life expectancy observed in the modern era may soon come to an end. And the youth of today may, on average, live less healthy and possibly even shorter lives than their parents. How can we possibly be facing the prospect of living shorter lives with all of our technological health care and Standard of living increases the crisis is that our lives are becoming increasingly imbalanced welcome to passion struck hi, I'm your host John our miles and on the show We decipher the secrets tips and guidance of the world's most inspiring people and turn their wisdom into practical

Starting point is 00:00:45 advice for you and those around you. Our mission is to help you unlock the power of intentionality so that you can become the best version of yourself. If you're new to the show, I offer advice and answer listener questions on Fridays. We have long form interviews the rest of the week with guest ranging from astronauts to authors, CEOs, creators, innovators, scientists, military leaders, visionaries and athletes. Now, let's go out there and become PassionStruck. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Momentum Friday, an episode 124 of PassionStruck, and thank you to each and every one of you who comes back weekly,

Starting point is 00:01:28 to listen and learn, how to live better, be better, and impact the world. And in case you missed our interview last week, it was with Dr. David Bago, a neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University, who is one of the leading experts in the world on meditation and mindfulness. In our discussion, he and I went into self-transcendence and how to experience personal growth and awakening through meditation and meadow awareness. Please check it out if you've not had a chance to listen. And if you'd like to watch our videos, you can go and subscribe to our YouTube channel at JohnRMiles, where

Starting point is 00:02:05 we have over 260 different videos. If you enjoy this episode or just the show in general, we really appreciate five star ratings and reviews. And speaking of reviews, I'd like to recommend from both the UK and Canada. DubBerson writes, Awesome! Great topics! I learned so much and love the guests that he picks out. And Jean Kohler writes, Extreme Health Radio. Love this show.

Starting point is 00:02:32 Great recording quality, and it's so helpful to anyone. Thank you, Doug and Jean, for taking the time to write those reviews. We truly appreciate it, and it helps others discover our podcast as well. Now, let's talk about today's episode. Today, much in our world requires constant time and attention.

Starting point is 00:02:51 We are a culture that is so focused on status and possessions that we concentrate our lives in its pursuit at the expense of everything else, leading to a life that is not only out of balance, it's out of control. Here's what many people don't understand. The opposite of joy is not unhappiness. The opposite of joy is feeling helpless to our surroundings. It is the apathy and surrender to the belief that we have to spend so much time and pretence, faking our lives that we forget who we are to begin with, leading to burnout, fatigue, latitude, and emotional exhaustion.

Starting point is 00:03:33 Preserving a balanced life is becoming increasingly more challenging as we let ourselves be consumed by where society tells us we should focus our time instead of focusing our time on our personal health and wellbeing. Living a well-balanced life is essential for wholeness, personal effectiveness, peak performance, and peace of mind. In today's episode, I'll enlighten you on what it means to live a balanced life. Why most people find it challenging to live one and how you yourself can begin to live a balanced life. Why most people find it challenging to live one

Starting point is 00:04:05 and how you yourself can begin to live a more balanced life? Thank you for choosing PassionStruck and choosing me to be your host and guide in creating an intentional life. Now, let that journey begin. [♪ Music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, Andrew Peterson was a well-accomplished musician in his late 30s. He was a very talented singer and instrumentalist who, as a teen, became captivated by the idea of becoming a rock star. Andrew began releasing albums and performed on the world's largest stages by the time that

Starting point is 00:04:43 he was in his early 20s. He raked in tons of money from the tours, merchandise sales, several lucrative licensing deals, and partnerships. Due to the demands of his music profession and the lifestyle he was leading, he paid little attention to both himself and wanting to have a family for many years. However, when he turned 40, he fell in love with a beautiful woman named Amanda. After a short courtship, they decided to get married and start a family. Then started out well for them. And shortly after their second anniversary, they had a daughter named Emily. Andrew loved his wife and his daughter dearly and tried his best to be there for them.

Starting point is 00:05:23 But he desperately missed his music, and that sensation of performing on stage in front of a huge crowd. So a few months after the birth of his daughter, he decided to go back and relaunch his career. In short order, his music career picked up right where he left it, and he was faced with the pressure of writing new albums and constant worldwide tours. His health began to suffer and his time away from home caused a massive strain on his family. Andrew was also getting older, which meant he couldn't handle stress, as well as he could when he was much younger. To make his body cope and stay stimulated, he abused many drugs while consuming vast amounts of alcohol and caffeine. Sadly,

Starting point is 00:06:06 these took a massive toll on his health, but several months and eventually years passed. And Andrew continued with this lifestyle. Then one day, as he was performing on stage, he was gyrating. When suddenly, he paused and slowly collapsed. In a hurry crew members called in an ambulance and he was promptly rushed to the hospital. Hours after he had collapsed, Andrew eventually regained consciousness. While in the hospital, he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy,

Starting point is 00:06:35 a life-threatening heart disease that was caused by the years of alcohol and drug abuse. He was put on compulsory bedrest and was forced to change his lifestyle. During this period of recovery, it dawned on him just how out of balance his life had become. He thought about what would have happened not only to him, but more importantly his family had he died.

Starting point is 00:06:57 He then began to understand why he felt such a deep sense of emptiness despite all the money and fame that he had gathered from his successful career. He truly looked inside and realized that he wasn't spending not only enough time, but the quality time with his family, and he wasn't taking care of his health. He had become indifferent to his life and everything that was in it. Even the music career that he so cherished had now become meaningless to him. From that moment, he made a conscious decision to pay attention to finding a

Starting point is 00:07:32 more balanced lifestyle. And after this period of self-reflection and recovery, he began to consciously put his thoughts and decisions into action. He spent more time with his family, went for regular medical checkups, became sober, volunteered for social programs, started exercising and participating in new events. He did this while still keeping an active music career. He simply found a more suitable way to perform his music and drastically altered his schedule and turn commitments. With these changes, Andrew began to feel whole again

Starting point is 00:08:06 and life felt balanced and, again, worthwhile to live. It also completely transformed the relationships that he had with his friends and family members. Like Andrew's story here, most of us can relate to the feeling of being out of balance in life. We chase certain things at the expense of other out of balance in life. We chase certain things at the expense of other aspects of our life.

Starting point is 00:08:28 And due to this, we feel incomplete and face the threat of really dire consequences. But as Andrew learned his lesson and changed for the better, it's something not only he can do, it's something we all can do. Let us now go into the details of why most people find it challenging to maintain a balanced lifestyle, the consequences of living an unbalanced life, and how you can begin

Starting point is 00:08:52 to live a balanced one. We will be right back to the Passion Struck podcast. I would like to emphasize that this podcast is part of my hope and desire to bring zero-cost information to the general public regarding how to create an intentional life. And keeping with that theme I would like to thank today's sponsors. This year one of my goals is maybe I'll try to revive my Spanish. And with Babel, the language learning app that sold more than 10 million subscriptions, not only is learning a new language fund, the whole Babel process is addictively fund. It's fast, it's easy.

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Starting point is 00:10:02 Plus, Babbo's speech recognition technology helps you to improve your pronunciation and your accent. Start your new language journey today with Babel. And right now, you can save up to 60% off your Babel subscription when you go to Babel.com slash passion struck. That's babble.com slash passion struck for 60% off your subscription. Babble, language for life. Please consider supporting those who support our show and make it possible and free for our listeners. And I know all the links that we put out here on the show can be so difficult to remember. So we also put them in one easy place on our website. You can just go to passionstruck.com slash deals to find them. Now back to passion struck. Why do people live unbalanced lives? Today we live in a fast-paced modern world that demands

Starting point is 00:10:59 our time and attention constantly. We have a host of activities to carry out each day. Some of them are must whether we enjoy them or not, whilst others are based on poor personal choices. A 2021 report from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics showed a 1.5-year decline in life expectancy from 2019 to 2020, to its lowest level since 2003. This drop is the largest one-year decline since World War Two. And to compound that, in 2011, the Journal of Gerontology published a disturbing analysis in indicating our lives are made up of fewer healthier years now than they did in the past. Additionally, in 2005, an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the study rise in life expectancy observed

Starting point is 00:11:53 in the modern era may soon come to an end, and the youth of today may, on average, live less healthy and possibly even shorter lives than their parents. How can we possibly be facing the prospect of living shorter lives with all of our technological healthcare and standard of living increases? The crisis is that our lives are becoming increasingly imbalanced. We prioritize career, status, money,

Starting point is 00:12:22 parting, and notoriety over personal fitness, mental and emotional health, family, and relationships. And this trend isn't just occurring in the United States. Develop nations influenced by Western lifestyle are also amidst in health crisis, resulting predominantly from poor lifestyle choices. Health experts from both Eastern and Western medicine disciplines confirm that if we lived a more healthy and balanced lifestyle, it would prevent most of today's chronic diseases.

Starting point is 00:12:54 The American College of Lifestyle Medicine recently recommended the replacement of the standard acute care vital signs with six lifestyle vital signs that contribute to a healthier more balanced life These include exercise sleep healthy diet stress management relationships and tobacco cessation a good way to think about This is to picture a bar stool when our life is out of balance that bar stool has one large support underneath it Which is fine until that one support gives way. However, when things are in better balance, you can think of that bar stools as having multiple legs underneath it. Better all balancing you together. You may also find it surprising. That work is missing from that list.

Starting point is 00:13:40 While most of us devote the bulk of our waking hours to our careers, our work life is not providing reciprocal health benefits. To attain proper health, we must refocus our priorities to align with what will deliver emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual health. So what are the consequences of living a life at a balance? When people have an unhealthy lifestyle that is out of balance, they experience far-reaching consequences that extend not only to themselves but to those who are around them. These include a decline in productivity for any of us to perform at peak productivity. We must be mentally and emotionally present. However, we often fall into the trap of thinking that we can be present all the time, or that a productive day at work equates to eight plus

Starting point is 00:14:32 hours of actual work output. However, it simply is not accurate. Research shows that after a certain number of hours, employees work productivity declines while the impact to their health increases dramatically. The second is a decline in relationships. An improperly balanced life causes relationships both inside and outside of work to suffer. This can range from feelings of aeration with co-workers to being distant from loved ones. Additionally, prioritizing your career over other areas of your life can lead to missing some of life's most rewarding and important moments. The next thing it affects is our health. When you're constantly experiencing stress and don't give enough attention to your well-being, you are bound to fall ill and suffer health challenges, such as high blood pressure, insomnia, obesity, anxiety, and depression. This drastically impacts your performance and leads to a much poorer quality of life.

Starting point is 00:15:31 This also leads to a lack of adult play. Life becomes mundane and repetitive when you spend all your time chasing your career, status, and money. You'll be missing out on enjoying the best part of life and creating beautiful memories with your loved ones. And if you want to understand more about that, you can check out episode 112 where I talk about the keys for creating a rewarding life for episode 74 on the importance of play as an adult. Do you have a topic like today's that you would like to see us cover?

Starting point is 00:16:05 You can reach us at Momentum Friday at PassionStruck.com. Keep your emails concise. Use a descriptive subject line. That keeps things easy for us. Reach out to us if there's a topic you're interested in learning about. There's something that maybe you're going through, any big decision that you're wrestling with, or perhaps you just want a new perspective on work, love, or life. Whatever's got you staying up at night, hit us up at Momentum Friday at PassionStruck.com. We're here to help and we keep every email anonymous now back to PassionStruck. So you now may be wondering, how can I live a balanced lifestyle? The truth is living a balanced lifestyle

Starting point is 00:16:45 in today's world doesn't come easily. However, here are some helpful tips that you can use. The first is to prioritize. You might have many interests, but realize that you can't cram every one of them into your life. The definition of balance is different for all of us, depending upon our responsibilities,

Starting point is 00:17:02 relationships, hobbies, and jobs. So define your life priorities, and put first things first so that all aspects are given the proper time and attention. And if you want to understand how to create healthier habits, check out episode 108 where I discuss the science of healthy habits. The second way you can lead a healthy lifestyle is to be efficient. Practice better time management by giving yourself enough time to actually get things done. Learn to organize, plan, and use available digital apps like Calendly,

Starting point is 00:17:35 Engross, and Ever Hour to help you manage your time more effectively. By doing so, you will be able to maximize the time that you have every single day to meet the demands of all the critical aspects of your life. For more on this topic, please check out my episode 38 with Abigail Barnes on how to turn your time into productivity, where she'll go through her eight by eight by eight methodology. The third way that you can build healthy habits is by finding a support system. Surround yourself with people who encourage and support you, who inspire you to be a better version of yourself, and overall add value to your life.

Starting point is 00:18:12 Try to avoid people who have an unhealthy lifestyle and add or create more tension for you. It's important to understand that stress affects you physically. So within reason, consider conducting an audit of the poor influences in your life that may be causing you stress or imbalance. And I covered this in an earlier episode as well called the mosquito principle. The fourth way you can create a healthy lifestyle is by being proactive in dealing with issues. Being proactive means acting in advance to deal with

Starting point is 00:18:41 an expected change or difficulty. When you do this, you will be able to promptly handle issues. That could potentially get your life out of balance and prevent them from doing so. The fifth way you can create a more balanced lifestyle is to know when to say no. Many people take on so much more than they can handle. And this is because they don't understand when to stop taking on more work

Starting point is 00:19:06 or perhaps they're trying to impress their boss. So they take on more activities and responsibilities when their cup is already full. And then when someone asks them to help with something, they oblige regardless of how much is already on their plate. This subsequently causes a stress not only on their lives, but on others around them, because they're often not able to achieve all those things at once. And this gets them completely out of balance. So you need to be able to learn the skills to politely decline a request when it doesn't fit into your plan, causes your own cup to overfill and threatens to bring imbalance to your life. The sixth thing you can do to create a balanced lifestyle

Starting point is 00:19:46 is to value, protect, and nurture your relationships. It is vital to constantly invest in your relationships with both family and friends to keep them thriving. You do this by spending quality time with them, providing a listening ear, a shoulder to lean on, and a helping hand in times of need. You will be sure that they will reciprocate in kind when it is your turn, making your whole life more colorful and whole. The

Starting point is 00:20:11 seventh thing you can do to create a more balanced lifestyle is to try out new things. Variety they say is the spice of life. Spend time participating in new activities. Break the mold of what you're doing currently. Go hiking or mountaineering. Walk on the beach. Attend a music concert. Learn to dance. Skydive. Do yoga or whatever have you. These new activities will reignite the spark in you and reinvigorate you for more productivity, ultimately helping you get the balance that you seek. The a thing that you can do to create a more healthy lifestyle is to meditate. Meditation is the act of transcending our immediate environment to a place of peace and calmness. It goes a long way in helping you see outside of yourself and go to the places where things

Starting point is 00:20:55 could get better for you and for your relationship with those around you. The best part of meditation is that it allows you to see things in a way where they're better and empowers you to take appropriate action to improve your situation. For more on this topic, please refer to this week's episode with Dr. David Vego episode 123 who is one of the foremost experts in the world on meditation and mindfulness. The ninth way you can get a more balanced life is to get adequate sleep. Lack of sleep is associated with many negative health effects, including increased risk of heart disease, depression, weight gain, inflammation, chronic disease, and sickness. It is so vital that you get an adequate amount of sleep to remain

Starting point is 00:21:38 healthy and active. So avoid excessive caffeine intake or understand when you need to moderate it or stop it all together to promote better healthy sleep focus on your stress and anxiety and other habits that could be inducing this poor sleep and the most important thing is if you're suffering from poor sleep habits and hygiene seek medical help. So what are the benefits of living a balanced life? Living a well-balanced life offers numerous benefits, but here are just a few. It alleviates stress, enriches your life, improves your general health, helps prevent depression, boost your energy level, brightens your mood, and helps you achieve elite performance and productivity among so many others.

Starting point is 00:22:22 So I've covered a lot today. So what are some of the key takeaways and lessons from this episode you can apply to your life? In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey talks about the need to spend time doing things that are not urgent, but that are important. He calls us the heart of effective personal management and emphasizes how these activities provide us with vision,

Starting point is 00:22:46 perspective, control as well as balance. When we find the right urgency versus importance equation, we take charge of our lives instead of letting it control us. It is critically important how vital it is to find the proper balance in all areas of your life. Without balance, you will eventually burn out, negatively affecting you and all those around you. The important thing is for you to act and not wait until you are faced with a situation like Andrew's medical condition before you start focusing on changes to your lifestyle. Recognize that finding balance is a personal pursuit that depends on what stage and phase you are in life.

Starting point is 00:23:26 Do some soul searching come to terms with what needs to be done away with and follow through with diligence. I hope that you find your balance and live a wholesome and happy life. And I truly appreciate you listening to today's discussion. And if there is a guest that you would like to see me interview on the show like Dr. David Vago, or our guest the week before that, New York Times, best selling author, Susan Cain,

Starting point is 00:23:50 you can connect with me on Instagram at JohnRMiles or on our Facebook page at JohnRMiles or UnlinkedIn at JohnMiles. And if you're new to the show or you would just like to introduce this to a friend or family member, we now have episode starter packs both on Spotify and on our website.

Starting point is 00:24:07 These are collections of your favorite episodes organized by topic, which gives any new listener a great way to get acquainted to everything that we do here on the show. Just go to passionstruck.com slash starter packs to get started. And thank you all of you for helping us to continue to grow the popularity

Starting point is 00:24:25 of this show and helping it become one of the most listened to and watch podcasts in the world. Now, go out there and live life passion struck. Thank you so much for joining us. The purpose of our show is to make passion go viral. And we do that by sharing with you the knowledge and skills that you need to unlock your hidden potential. If you want to hear more, please subscribe to the PassionStruck podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to your podcast ad. And if you absolutely love this episode, we'd appreciate a five-star rating on iTunes, and you're sharing it with three of your most growth-minded friends,

Starting point is 00:25:04 so they can post it as well to their social accounts and help us grow our passion start community. If you'd like to learn more about the show and our mission, you can go to passionstruck.com where you can sign up for our newsletter, look at our tools, and also download the show notes for today's episode. Additionally, you can listen to us every Tuesday and Friday, or even more inspiring content. And remember, make a choice, work hard, and step into your sharp edges.

Starting point is 00:25:34 Thank you again for joining us. you

Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Nine Simple Ways to Find Your Balance and Get Your Life Back with John R. Miles EP 124

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