Most comments about balance in life come from people who have the opposite of the credentials in life that you’d expect from someone with an opinion worth hearing on the topic. Balance is not an inherent quality in life, but rather one that can only be defined and weighed with respect to what is of greatest value to the individual. Plenty of high achievers feel greater balance in their lives than those who criticize them for what they perceive to be the lack thereof.
Without a defined transcendent purpose, all discussion of balance is no better than feeling one’s way through the dark. The difference between necessary sacrifice and overzealousness can only be assessed once a purpose is defined. How can one say what is worthwhile independent of knowing the value of the expected outcome?
A transcendent purpose is worth anything else. Without a defined purpose, necessary efforts could easily be withheld in the name of balance in spite of how many worthwhile paths would be precluded by such an approach. Anything that ultimately detracts from your transcendent purpose is overzealous, but anything that fails to advance your transcendent purpose is insufficient.
While all of these statements accurately suggest that, for most, the life plan will result in some increase in activity, don’t mistake this for an increase in pressure or overwhelm, as you’ll feel less of both as you implement your life plan.
The only way to alleviate anxiety towards being better than you are is to have compelling reasons to believe that you are already the best you can be or doing the best that you can. You can’t feel peace in doing less than your best, and you won’t be successful in persuading yourself that you are doing your best without compelling evidence. The life plan is your evidence.
Rather than seeing every moment as a high-pressure decision to make, your prioritization of all things according to purpose will make the pace you set and the breaks you take intentional and for the greatest benefit. You will definitely get much more done by living a life plan than not, but living a life plan does not mean you will be a robot who never has downtime or never hesitates before beginning a new task.