Copyright: olegdudko / 123RF Stock Photo
 

TRAINING - WORK - MARRAGE 

I began training for my first powerlifting meet in 1982 and competed at my last meet in 2005. That's 36 years of training with intent and 23 competing. I started working in the strength industry in 1987 and founded elitefts.com Inc in 1998. That's 31 years in the industry and 20 years as a business owner. This month marks 23 years of marriage and 16 as a father. I have found there is no such thing as life balance, and that concept is flawed. 

We try to balance aspects of our life but put no thought into what that means in the bigger picture of time. What time frame are we trying to balance? The day, week, month, year? Time is our GREATEST asset, right?

MULTI-YEAR PROCESS

In all the years of training and competing, I learned the most essential aspect of the training process was the multi-year process. Each phase builds on the other depending on what part of the year it was, how things progressed, and what the overall objective was. There were always items that were prioritized more highly than others because strengths and weak points were always being assessed. Looking back it always balanced out as long as focus stayed on what needed to be done while still maintaining other abilities. Without the phase of prioritization, the end result would not have been anywhere close to the same.

FOCUS

This is the same process I have used in business, marriage, and fatherhood. It’s not about one specific role but ALL of them and seeing where your priorities need to be in order to advance forward without abandoning (maintaining) the other roles. This allows for the ability to focus on what you are doing at the exact time you are doing it and controlling what you can control and not sweating the crap you can’t.

IT'S NOT EASY

Over the long haul, this is NOT easy, and a short post does zero justice to the time, effort, and sacrifice it takes to have longevity in anything worthwhile.

MORE OF MY LIFE LIVED THAN NOT

With more of my life lived than left to live I can say there were many times I was “unbalanced” but looking back on it all I see a very balanced life. 

It’s not about life balance, it's about being able to look back on a balanced life - where each phase builds upon the next according to strengths and weaknesses.

I’ll be presenting on this theme @swis.2018 #swis2018. I will be one of dozens (several dozen) of presenters from all sectors of the strength and conditioning industry. Check this out at @swis.2018 while there’s still time to register. Hope to see you there.

More Blogs & Articles From Dave Tate Here