B, C and D

Life is C between B and D. B stands for birth. D stands for death and C stands for challenges and choices. Our lives are made up of daily challenges. Most of them small and some are bigger, but sometimes we get really knocked back with serious life challenges. What comes next is your choices on how you interpret the challenge, how you face the challenge and then finally what you choose to do with the challenge. These challenges are thrown at us from all angles and all shapes and sizes and the choices on how we handle the challenges of life are what we truly control. Too often we choose to take an easier path with our choices. We look to get rid of our discomforts that life's challenges create instead of embracing these challenges. When we embrace life's challenges and choose not to take the easy way out, we find out what we are truly capable of.  We always find out we can handle way more than we thought possible. This is what creates true fulfillment in our lives. It has been proven over and over again that when we embrace life's challenges our brain starts to view challenges as a positive. We become stronger mentally and emotionally. We start to realize that true successes come from these challenges. We decide to stop making excuses of why we can't do something. We choose to pivot and adapt our lives to the challenges instead of giving up and saying " Well I can't do this now because......(fill in the blank)". Now we say "Just because I have this going on now doesn't mean I stop doing......(fill in the blank again)". Embrace your challenges. Do something with your challenges. Prove to yourself that you are unstoppable. Use your challenges as building blocks for your inner strength, compassion and the empathy that is needed to live your heart filled life.

Thanks for reading and as always your comments and thoughts are always welcome,

Safe or Strong?

Question: Do you want your kids to be safe or strong? I heard this question on a podcast yesterday while trail running. Now this question can also apply to yourself or others. In my point of view being safe is an allusion. Being safe and only safe tells me that everything has been prepared and sanitized. That there is no risk. That the possibility of failure has been mitigated. What is to be learned from this type of a scenario? Nothing is learned. When I think of this question I automatically choose strong over safe. I want my kids to experience failure and heartache. I want my kids to know how it feels to be in a situation where being scared is good. Where the possibility of failure is high. This is the only proven way that they can create self awareness and self residency. Now do I want my kids to be put into dangerous situations that they are totally unprepared for? Absolutely not, that would be stupid and extremely poor parenting and reckless. But at the same time they need to learn that life is tough and sometimes it is not fun. Sometimes you have to find out what you are made of and how far you can push yourself and how uncomfortable they can really get. If I stifle that while they are young in order to keep them so called safe, what good am I doing for them later on in life when they are expected to make good sound decisions on their own. I believe too many people let the 24 hour information machine dictate their lives too much. They lose sight of how their life is really going and base it off of what they hear and read everyday. They make life decisions based off of this information without really looking around and seeing what their life is really about. Remember the only control we have in life is how we respond to it and how we view it. If we let that 24 hour information machine that we carry around in our hand or pocket every day and all day dictate to us whether we believe in being safe or strong, we have let go of the only true control that we have in life. In my book, that is no way to live. Teach yourself and those around you to be strong and not to shy away from failure. To embrace life. To be willing to fail forward. You have the ability to always stand up after a failure and look behind and realize that you are further along than you though because of those failures. These are the true lessons in life. 

Thanks and as always your comments are always welcomed,

Thinking on a deeper level

Last Tuesday my trip up North looked to be falling apart with my friend bailing on me at the last minute (No hard feelings).  I knew that I still needed to go and I was prepared to head up North to the upper Northwest part of Michigan. I was disappointed to be heading out by myself, but everything changed when I decided to ask my son Quinn if he wanted to go with me. 

Life has an amazing way of taking what looks to be cascading events of negativities and can change everything with just one positive thought or idea. Asking Quinn to go with me was that positive idea. 

The time we spent together was not just a father / son bonding time. This was time spent truly learning from each other. Our conversations were deep and thought provoking. There was no talk of politics or Covid-19. We talked and shared with each other what we thought it took to be a good human being. What it meant to have empathy in your heart and soul for others. We spent time laughing at our own silliness. We spent time together quietly. We took different paths on the trails that know one else was taking. When people turned around because of the rain on Friday, Quinn and I went further. This was a time to explore and that meant not letting inconveniences get in the way. We made ourselves light in nimble with the way we chose to camp, while others brought their condo tents and half of the household goods. We both realized that we  need more of this kind of time and adventures in our lives with each other.

I told Quinn on the way home that the thoughts he had in his head that were hard to put into words on how he felt about this time spent together meant that real positive growth was happening inside him. I told him that these feelings that he has inside are the same as I have. I told Quinn that it is a goal of mine to have to have these types of feelings as much as possible in my life. It meant that you would have to search high and far to find the words that fit to describe and sometimes those words take a long time to find. This meant that you were thinking at a deeper level. It meant that you were going beyond superficial thoughts and digging deeper for meaning. I was proud to see how my son embraced this way of thinking and living. As long as I do what I am supposed to do and keep nurturing this attitude towards life there is no telling what Quinn will be to accomplish in life. As it says in the book Peter Pan "That was a great adventure" 

Thanks for reading and as always your thoughts are welcome.

To Contemplate

Periodically we are left asking ourselves some important questions that are hard to answer and take quite a bit of reflection. Sometimes those questions are hard to put into words let alone try to answer. Here is a list of questions that you can take action on to help answer some of those questions we all contemplate here and there throughout life. I found this list in the book I am reading. "The Happiness Handbook For High Achievers... Stoics, Circles, Sheepdogs & Authenticity By Dr. Fegus Connolly.

• Ask yourself this simple question: "Who am I?"

• What are my strengths, my positive qualities?

• What are my limitations and biases? What are my opportunities for improvement?

• What do others see as my greatest gift to them?

• Do I truly recognize my gifts and strengths as a person, not as a professional?

• Why am I here? What is my purpose in life?

• What makes me passionate? What makes me truly upset?

• What are my superpowers? Do I use these gifts properly?

• Can I distinguish my profession from who I am as a person?

• Do I judge on values or beliefs?

• Does my group connect on a deep or superficial level?

• Do I see the value and qualities in others?

• Do I make superficial judgements on behaviors or appearance?

• How do my behaviors reflect my values?

• Can I explain my values as a person clearly as actions for someone?

All these questions are the questions we should be asking ourselves every once and a while. What is unique about these questions, are the answers can change as we mature and think deeper and spend more time reflecting on them. In actuality the answers should change as we grow, because these questions help give us a greater opportunity to grow as individuals. As we grow in a positive direction as individuals we can then grow in a more positive direction as a community and as a society.

Thanks for reading

On Influence

"I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet."

Mahatma Gandhi

Throughout life we let the opinions and commentary of others influence our lives and how we go about living life. The problem that we run into is that often we let the opinions and commentary of the wolves that are in our lives make some of the biggest impacts on us. We let them take a walk through our mind and emotions and we end up taking their own personal abuse that they carry within themselves. You see the wolves don't like their own lives. They don't possess the ability or desire to make their own lives better through self reflection. It is too hard and too painful for them. They do not have the personal resiliency that you have. Instead of letting the wolves influence you, let the people who mean the most too you have the greater influence. These are the people that love you the most and always have your back. These people are the ones willing to do the hard part and be honest with you even when it is unbearingly uncomfortable. These are the people who always show you unconditional love. They are the ones that are there to help pick you up, brush you off and send you down the right path again. These are the people who will always check their feet before they take the good walk through your mind.

Thanks and have an awesome day, 

Win or Learn

I read a really cool quote today by John Kavanaugh. He is the coach of Conor McGregor. We often hear the phrase "Win or Lose", but what if you turned the phrase into a more positive mindset and said "Win or Learn". When we decide to stick with the "Win or Lose" mentality we only allow ourselves two options, but if we decide to use the mindset of "Win or Learn"

We open up countless opportunities to create success in the now and in the future . When we choose the more positive growth of "Win or Learn" we start to create true happiness. We can only find true happiness when we realize that the only thing we actually control in our lives is our beliefs. When we narrow those beliefs down to just "Win or Lose" you have effectively narrowed your path to happiness down to one outcome. We don't win all the time. Hell, we don't even win everyday, but we can learn everyday and when we learn every day, we win.

Thanks for reading and as always all comments and feedback are welcome

On Success

"What is success"

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived; that is to have succeeded. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

This quote seemed like a perfect way to start off the beginning of the work week. We strive for success in many different ways. Each unique to each of us, but the question is do you strive for success or do you strive for success towards happiness? There are a lot of people in this world who strive for success every day, every hour and even every minute, but they do not know true happiness. I have seen this on a first hand basis and it is sad to see. I am still learning how to strive for success through happiness. It is not an easy journey to be on. You have to learn to be comfortable with one of the most uncomfortable things you face every day of your life and that thing is yourself. You need to face all your ups and down. All your faults. All your positives and negatives. All your relationships. You have to face everything and ask yourself hard questions. Once you do though, the quote above will hold a deeper and greater meaning for you.

Thanks and have a great day

On Coaching

This past Tuesday I was listening to a great podcast. One of my mentors Zach Even-ish was interviewing Fergus Connolly. The main subject of the podcast was about the idea of coaching people vs coaching people to the program. This subject really hit home to me. Too often coaches, teachers, parents, leaders you name the title only coach or teach to what they want the people to learn. In other words they coach or teach to win or to succeed and they don't coach or teach to listen to what is truly needed. We get so wrapped up into our ideas and our expertise and what we perceive as best or the only way. We expect students, members, or employees to leave their egos at the door, but yet we don't do the same in a lot of cases. Yes there is structure and some boundaries that are needed to teach or coach in order for someone to learn, but we make such a huge mistake by letting our egos prevent us from really listening and getting to know the needs of who we are trying to teach or coach. This issue isn't just confined to the gym or the classroom or at the workplace. This issue happens in everyday life. It happens with us as parents. It happens with us as families. It happens with us as friends. All you need to do and step back and just listen to a conversation and watch to see who is truly listening vs who is just thinking about their response. It is said that good coaches and teachers coach and teach to the weight or the subject. Great coaches and teachers coach and teach to the person. So ask yourself are you a good coach or teacher or are you a great coach or teacher? If you have doubt or hesitate on how to answer this question, it is time to start to learn to be great. A little secret, to be great you will need to learn how to be great for the rest of your life. It's worth it!!!

Thanks and seize the day

Honor

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. 

- Martin Luther King, JR. 

This quote is in the beginning of principle #9 in the book "The Spartan Way" by Joe De Sena. The principle is titled "Be Honorable, Spartan Virtue: Integrity". I sometimes wonder what has happened to this virtue of late. This morning I went to look at my news feed and within the first 8 stories 5 of them had to do with A white person being filmed spotting of racist comments towards someone of Asian descent and the other 4 were towards African Americans and their families. I asked myself why? Can someone explain to me why. Then I thought whoever tried to explain, your answer is wrong. There are no right answers to this issue of racism. There are only wrong answers. There is no way of spinning this. There is no way of explaining this away. There is no way of hiding from this, but yet so many people apparently do. You know what, you're wrong $#$%^&$ wrong!!! There is only one right answer to this and that is you are taught. You are taught to hate. You are taught by people that hold power over you. Whether it is your parents, family members, friends, world leaders, workplace environment or media outlets. These people and organizations have no virtues or any kind of honor and integrity. They can't even begin to understand the definition of these words.

I know this is supposed to be a gym newsletter, but honor, virtue and integrity are integral parts of life and they can be honed and learned here in the gym. Honor, virtues and integrity come from within. They have to be nurtured and taught in order for them to flourish. This only happens through hard work and dedication. You can't cheat them, because if you do you will always fall short. When you fall short on a regular basis because of a lack of honor, virtues, and integrity that's when it becomes really easy to start blaming others and start listening to the wrong message of hate. Don't let this happen to you and please do whatever you can to prevent this from happening to people around you. I don't think we can make this issue go away completely, but we can sure do a hell of a lot better job then what is happening these days. 

Thanks for reading and have an awesome day

On Solitude

“Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.”— Pablo Picasso

Recently I have been involved in conversations with friends and family that revolve around the idea that there really isn't a lot to do these days and what there is to do is nowhere near the same as it used to be. These conversations always remind me of how much I enjoy the solitude of my runs in the woods. When I am in this space and place I feel at peace. The connectivity of the world can go away for a while. There are no points of view from various ends of all spectrums that everyone seems to be espousing these days. There is only the tree's, the wild life, the dirt, the roots, the rocks and my breath to be seen and heard. The background noise is shut down. We all say it would be nice to just take a breather, but how many of us intentionally take a breather vs talking about it. Taking a breather doesn't mean just stopping. It means stop doing what has become normal and step away and do something different. Something that renews you from the inside out. If you can't change where you are at, change who you are. To me there are plenty of things to do. All it takes is a pair of trail shoes and a mind that wants to think and imagine.  

Thanks and have a great day,

On Listening

Confusion, Frustration and Anger have seemed to be the dominant forces of late. I feel it everywhere. Within me, within the people closest to me and within our community in general. Everyone is tired, beat up and fed up. Covid & politics dominate everything from conversations to the news and everything else in between. It seems everyone is getting put into specific groups and the Idea of individualism is being thrown out with the bath water. Too many experts and not enough listeners. We are missing a whole entire world going by us because we are so preoccupied with noise of the people yelling the loudest. I was part of a conversation this weekend where everyone was talking about how little there really is to do. that you can't really go anywhere and enjoy what you used to do. I thought to myself how happy I am that the woods, the trails and mother nature are still and always have been my sanctuary. Peace can be found out there. Quiet can be found out there. Oneness can be found out there. Too many experts and not enough listeners.

There is a story of a woman in India who was upset that her son was eating too much sugar. No matter how much she chided him, he continued to satisfy his sweet tooth. Totally frustrated, she decided to take her son to see his great hero, Mahatma Gandhi.

She approached the great leader respectfully and said,

“Sir, my son eats too much sugar. It is not good for his health. Would you please advise him to stop eating it?” Gandhi listened to the woman carefully, turned, and spoke to her son,

“Go home and come back in two weeks.”

The woman was perplexed. She took the boy by the hand and went home.

Two weeks later, she returned, boy in hand. Gandhi motioned for them to come forward. He looked directly at the boy and said, “Boy, you should stop eating sugar. It is not good for your health.”

The boy nodded and promised he would not continue this habit any longer. The boy’s mother turned to Gandhi and asked, “Why didn’t you tell him that two weeks ago when I brought him here to see you?”

Gandhi smiled and said, “Mother, two weeks ago, I was still eating sugar myself.”

Have a great day and please spend some time listening

The Fear Wolf

I am reading a book called "Staring Down The Wolf" by Mark Divine. There is a part in this book I wanted to share with you. Considering everything that we are facing as individuals and as a society, life can seem pretty unforgiving and show up in the form of negative thoughts, negative self talk and negative feelings towards ourselves and those around us. Obviously this is not a good thing. This kind of negativity is purely destructive. This kind of negativity wants to be purely destructive. It wants to lay waste to everything that you consider good. We can't let this happen. Here is the excerpt.

There is a Native American tale of a negative fear wolf that resides in the minds of humans. This wolf operates from fear, is hungry for drama, catastrophes and has incessant negative self talk. 

But there is a second, positive wolf residing in the heart. This one has an appetite for love and connection, is not addicted to drama and is optimistic and focused on others. 

The fear wolf fights for your attention and demands dominance. The courage wolf simply asked to be noticed, seeking some esteem building food. 

According to the legend, the one that ultimately controls you is the one you feed the most.

The past couple of days I have been feeding the fear wolf way too much food. I have been letting the many obstacles that have been thrown at my family, myself and the gym run my life, my emotions and mental state of mind. The fear wolf inside me has been dominating my ability to be the leader of my family, myself and the gym that I always strive to be. NO MORE!!! 

We are all going through our own tough times and yes we are all in this together, but only to a certain degree. Each of us has our own battles to go through right now. some are similar to others, but some are completely our own. Take some time after you read this and ask yourself which wolf have you been feeding and which wolf do you want to feed. It's only when we feed our courage wolf that we can think and lead from our heart and mind equally.

Harder to kill

Hysteria is not a good thing. It makes people act stupid. It makes people lose their ability to think rationally and clearly. It makes people become turn their selfish side. It makes people stop thinking about the greater good of everyone and only about themselves.

Instead of buying into the mass hysteria that is going around, try doing something constructive about it. Here are a few things you can do to help yourself avoid this mindset.

1- Read actual factual information instead of the 24hr news outlet (opinion shows).  Scientists are actually really smart and study this stuff as a career and know a lot more about this than any politician ever will.

2- Wash your hands often. Simple rule when washing your hands. Sing the complete abc's song. It should take about 20 seconds which is the recommended time for washing your hands

3- Eat healthy!!! Eat food the helps support your immune system. Eat and drink foods that are loaded with antioxidants. This helps your liver clean and purify your blood.

4- Workout and exercise. I don't care what kind of workout it is. As long as it is improving your health physically and mentally.

Simply put, do these things to make yourself harder to kill. That's it. This is not complicated, but so many people would like you to think it is. Is what we are dealing with these days serious? 

Yes it is and it should not be taken lightly, but it also should not be thought of in a mass hysteria mindset. This kind of mindset is what gets us in trouble as a society.

Thanks and keep thinking for yourself and don't rely on others to do it for you,

Pushing the dirt aside

We have an easy one today. I heard this while I was running today and it made me think about how often I wake up and get a little stressed out due to whatever may be in store for the day ahead. We all do this from time to time. Some of us more than others depending upon your personality or typical morning mindset. We forget one very important thing in our lives and that is this.

"Each morning we wake up on this side of the dirt is a good day, so smile and be happy". 

I think that pretty much sums it up.

Reflections on Race Day

This weekend's race was absolutely awesome. Everything I was hoping to get out of it was amazing. The race course was difficult due to the terrain, but throw the snow, mud, water and a 24 degree temperature start and you had the makings of a great challenge. 

The training I did leading up to this race paid off in a big way. I had my fastest Spartan Sprint time on a tougher course then I am used to running. Over all I finished in the top 15%, 431 out of 3039 runners. The one I am most proud of though is finishing 31 out of 150 runners in my age group of 50 to 54 years old. The best part though was when I crossed the finish line. I knew that I had gone out and had done everything I was hoping to do. I passed runners from the previous heats. I took on the scale up challenges the Spartan had put on the course to make things more challenging if you wanted to. I crossed the finish line with not much at all left in the tank. Because of this and all the training I had done leading up to the race, my first thought was, "What else can we do to crush this day and make it totally epic"? 

That right there is the special piece I am always talking about. It is at the end of the race and what happens afterwards. Do you crash and burn and say it wasn't worth it or do you take a huge step forward and realize there is more? There is more to be done. There is more that you want to do. There is more that you have to do, because the core of yourself is telling you this. This is the special piece that comes at the end. It is the growth, the desire, the need to search for more because you know you can and you know if you don't the feeling of disappointment is to heavy to deal with.

Think about this the next time you don't think you can or you are wondering if you should try. The person who was the last runner on the course never gave up no matter how difficult it was for her. She still crossed the finish line because the challenge was too great to pass up. Her time was 11:56:25. That's right almost 12 hours. I was there and got to watch her cross the finish line and she was and still is a total inspiration. Don't ever say you can't.

Sometimes you gotta keep working

I had made a decision that Wednesday was going to be my last workout before my race. So I went into Thursday with this laissez - faire attitude and I ended up feeling like total crap physically and lazy as hell mentaly. This was not good.

In the meantime, one of our cars needed the front brakes done. We took the car up to my friend Ben's family tire shop (Leipold Tire) and as usual Ben goes above and beyond on his customer service and decides to rotate all the tires. He noticed the right rear tire had two screws in it. Apparently somewhere along the way this past year I through some fix a flat in the tire and never took notice of it after that. Now the issue is that cleaning out fix a flat is a royal pain in the butt. Next thing I know I get a text from Ben telling me about the fix a flat and that I owed him 200 burpee's for dealing with the mess.

This morning I woke up and the first thing I thought was " I am punching this laissez - faire attitude in the face today". 130 burpee's and 90 pull ups later (220 I figured I owed sales tax) the attitude and lazy mindset where gone. The moral here is don't rest on your laurels. You need to keep working both physically and mentally. 

To run a race, take the first step

Lately I have been writing a lot about goals and the mindset needed to accomplish goals. One of the main rules that I should tell you about is scaling your goals. Scaling your goals is very important to gaining momentum and success. For instance, if you set a goal that you have never come close to trying or even thought about before, what do you think your chances of succeeding are? Probably pretty slim. So scaling is very important.

Let's say you tell yourself that you are going to run a marathon by July of this year. A couple of questions you should ask yourself. How far have you actually ran in the recent past and are you truly ready to commit to the routine of preparing to run a marathon? If your answers are something like this. I haven't really run that much at all and I am not sure what I will have to do to get ready to run a marathon. This is probably not a very good goal for you on a couple different levels. The main one is the need to understand the sacrifice and disciplined that goes into training for a marathon. Just as difficult as the actual physical part of training can be, the mental part can be even more difficult. Our brain is a very powerful muscle and can make or break you when it comes to achieving goals. 

the better approach is to write down your ultimate goal and then break it down into mini goals with hard dates to achieve.

Main goal - Marathon

Mini goals

1 - run 1 mile non stop with in two weeks

2 - Run plus walk a 5k and build to run a complete running 5K (3.2 miles) within one month after running a mile

3 - Enter first 5k

4 - Increase running mileage up to 5 mile and the 6 miles 

5 - Run 6 miles or 10K one month after completing the 5K race

6 - Enter into a 10k race

7 - Start to increase running distance and be able to run a 1/2 marathon 1 1/2 months after finishing 10k race

8 - enter into a 1/2 marathon race

From there you keep building the micro goals all the way up to the main goal of the marathon. 

As you can see there is a lot of building that gets you to your main goal. You must be willing to take the sacrifice and discipline to achieving a goal more seriously then the actual goal. It is the process and dedication to the process that makes your goal have a chance to succeed. You must do the work and EMBRACE THE SUCK to make yourself strong enough on the inside so you can succeed on the outside. 

Mountains and molehills

"It is not the mountain that will get you. It is the pebbles in your shoes." 

We look at the huge monumental things that happen in life and after the initial shock we typically come up with a plan on how to handle it. We slow things down and start to think clearly and even draw on others for help or advice. We come up with a plan and strategy and stick to it because we realize the size and scope of this monumental thing we are having to go through and the importance to pull through.

But how often do we stop throughout the day and dump the irritating pebbles out of our shoes. Meaning how often do we get rid of the small things that we deal with throughout the day. These small pebbles become the fuel for negative energy that we carry around willfully throughout the day. These small pebbles allow us to express our anger and frustrations and most of the time these small pebbles of irritation we have absolutely no control over, but yet we let the control and hijack our emotional state of mind.

Dump the small pebbles form your shoes. Next time you notice them filling back up again and becoming a negative force in your daily life, ask yourself "our these feelings helping me"? The answer is usually no they are not. Then if they are not dump them out, you have much more important and bigger things to do with your life.

The Sky's The Limit?

The sky is not the limit, you are. 

To often we don't recognize that we are our own limiting factor. Actually we are always are our limiting factor. When we choose NOT to try something new or we decide something is too difficult, it is not the situation or thing that is stopping us. It is our decision that is stopping us from finding our fullest potential. Why do we do this?

We choose to be our own limiting factor because quite frankly it is easier. " One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity" (Albert Schweitzer). When we choose to look away or turn away from challenges in life that we fear we not only stop growing, but we also create the mindset that anything we deem too difficult to do will never get done. When this happens just turn out the lights and call it done. 

We are designed and meant to take on challenges and goals. We were created with a large brain and opposable thumbs for a reason and it wasn't just for sitting around and watching life go by. We are supposed to participate in life to our fullest potential. So the next time someone asks you why in the world are you doing that now. You look at them and say because I can and it what I was made to do. Then walk away with a smile on the outside and inside because now you are on your way to truly living your life to its fullest potential. 

Giving 100 Percent

So you say you want balance in your life. Well then you need to go join the circus. There is no such thing as balance in life. You either are giving 100% to each piece or your not living to life's fullest potential. 

When we say we want to have balance in our life, how do you plan on doing this? Do you give a certain percentage to work. A certain percentage to family. A certain percentage to health and wellness and so on and so on. If you go at it from that point of view each piece is also only going to receive that percentage of you thoughts and effort. Instead of trying to find the so called balance in life. Take each piece of you life that you view as vitally to you living a full life and give yourself 100 percent to each piece. The idea here is to be in the present moment 100%.

When you are with you family, you are with them 100%. When your at work, you are there 100%. When you go to the gym, you go at 100%. Even when you take out the trash, do it 100%. When we give 100% to each thing in our life there is no need for a quote unquote balance. Now that being said, your 100 percent from one day to the next may change and vary a little bit. What you want to make sure of is that whatever your 100 percent is from day to day you are giving is that your giving each piece of your life the 100% it deserves.  

When we live life from this point of view and this mentality we have created a 100% balance.