Balancing the 7F's of Life

There is always talk on priorities. The truth is, as any one of us, there are at least 7 areas we need to prioritize.

Zig Ziglar has the wheel of life

Paul Batz speaks on 7F's similar to this

There are many other examples out there

Regardless of how you divide them and what you call them, these are areas of utmost importance in managing our lives. I consider these the areas everyone must manage at the minimum. You cannot just say "Faith is most important". If you focus only on your faith and you lack doing a great job with your family or your finances - or even getting time for fun, I would argue you are failing - even failing in your faith. These are the minimum areas.

Zig says that when one or more of these areas are out of balance, it is like running your wheel of life with a flat tire.

ba-dump,

ba-dump,

ba-dump...

One more to hit it home: Former Coca-Cola CEO Brian Dyson once said: “Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them — work, family, health, friends, and spirit… and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls — family, health, friends, and spirit — are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same.”

In the illustrations above, there are sub-categories as well. For example, you score well in that you have an excellent relationship with your spouse but your relationship with your teenagers is suffering. That affects the overall score in the family category.

You can score yourself out of 10 on each of these areas. In either of the tools below, you will be able to see if your life is smooth running or has "flats" in certain areas.

If you have a flat in one or more areas, devote a little more energy in that area to shore it up to be balanced with the areas in which you are doing well. Do not neglect the other areas, just put your shoulder into that one area a little more until you feel confident it is where it needs to be.

As you grow, grow evenly. Keep each area in balance. I would suggest reviewing this along with your life plan and buckets each quarter.