To live a more successful life, you need to live a more balanced life. The areas where you need to focus your attention are: your personal development, family, business or career, health, relationships, financial independence and the kind of service you can give to your community or church.

These seven areas are fundamental in your life and you will never truly be happy nor successful if you can't find a balance in these areas. Now, if you are having difficulty finding a balance, perhaps this list is overwhelming. But don't stop there.

The following 6 step system, known as the B-ALERT system is meant to help you find a balance and therefore avoid stress and depression, wreck in your marriage and day to day frustration.

B in the B-ALERT system refers to Blueprint. A blueprint is a map or a schedule for the day. You can take 10 or 15 minutes and prepare it the night before. List your activities and your most important goals for that specific day. When you prepare it at night, your subconscious will work on your goals during your sleep and when you awake the next day, you will find that you've already solved some of your problems.

A refers to Action. Your actions need to lead you to successful activities that move you to your major goals. Everyday, do something specific that will bring you closer to your major definite purpose, your single most important goal in life. Successful people are action and result oriented. They set goals and they go for it. Everyday, they accomplish something that is helping them reach that specific goal.

L refers to Learning. Someone said: "there are two things that will make you wiser: the books you read and the people you meet." Everyday, you can read books or listen to audio programs. You can go to seminars, meet people and learn from them. Successful people have good habits. Some of them are: reading a book everyday for 30 minutes in their area of expertise, listening to learning tapes in the car and going to seminars. By learning this way, you will increase your level of competency faster than ever.

E refers to Exercise. Don't treat your health lightly. Study nutrition, health and fitness. Walk around for 15 minutes or do some exercises. Control your weight. Begin while you're young. Don't wait to be 50 years old to begin controlling your weight. Remember that when you have more energy, you move faster and you accomplish more. You attract more opportunities to earn more, learn more and live a better life.

R refers to Relaxing - Among the factors related to the development of illness is stress. According to a study on Stress and Illness in the Workplace, it is estimated that up to 75% of all illness is stress-related. To relax, you can take a nap, meditate, listen to music, have some family time, or plan vacations.

T refers to Thinking. At the end of the day, practice reflective thinking. It consists of making a movie of the day. What did you do well? What could be improved?

Finding balance in your life is necessary. With this 6-step system, you can live a more successful life because you can do more, and much more efficiently. When you do more, you can have more: more satisfaction, more happiness. You become more focused on what is more important to you.

Copyright 2005 Emmanuel Segui