If you ask the average person today if they have balance in their life you’re likely to get a snort, a laugh, or a blank stare. Balance? Ha! That’s because few of us ever experience what balance feels like, or recognize the profound effect balance (or lack of it) has on our health, productivity, and overall happiness.

Balance means different things to different people, but lack of it has some universal effects. Think about when your car tires get out of alignment: certain areas wear faster than others, and the tires become weak, threadbare, and sometimes blow out. When our lives get out of alignment, we get stressed, angry, sick, and despondent. Like your tires, extreme lack of balance also ends in blowout: job burnout, soured relationships, estranged children, health crises.

So how do you fit one more task (finding balance) into an already bloated schedule? Well, regaining balance is both very easy and very hard. Easy in that it requires nothing more than asking yourself where things are out of alignment, and listening to the answer. Deep inside, you already know where things are out of balance. The hard part is accepting the answer and taking action on it. We can get addicted to the high-speed wobble, or feel like we’ll somehow let the world down if we don’t keep up the frantic pace. The reality is, regaining balance leads to more time, energy, vitality, and enthusiasm. With all that, you won’t let anyone down!

Here are a few ways to inch your way back into balance:

Know your priorities. And honor them. List your values in order of highest priority, then live your life accordingly. If you say your top values are family, health, and community, staying late at the office every night, eating fast food, and driving like a maniac will quickly put you out of balance with your values.

Be state aware. Check in with your physical, mental, and emotional state regularly. Pain or discomfort in any area indicates that something is out of balance.

“Yes” also means “No.” When you say “yes” to one thing, recognize what you’re also saying “no” to. Volunteering on yet another committee means less time to work on your house, play with your children, or read a novel in your hammock. Go back to your priorities to confirm where your “yes-es” should cluster.

Schedule downtime, every day. I know this sounds like asking the impossible. However, scheduling just 30-45 minutes of quiet, nourishing, YOU time daily will more than make up for itself in renewed energy for tackling everyone else’s needs the rest of the day.

Ask for help. It’s all the rage to be superhuman these days, juggling career, family, hobbies, and social networks single-handedly. It’s also unrealistic and unnecessary. Not only does asking for help move you back into balance, you’ll forge stronger bonds with loved ones as you allow them to see your human side!

Ride the wave. Sometimes life just hits you sideways, despite every effort to maintain balance. When that happens, think of yourself riding a wave. Relax, take a few deep breaths, and imagine floating on top of the wave as it passes, instead of getting sucked under it. Because it will pass. It always does.

Staying in alignment requires both awareness and practice. But if you pay attention to balance, you’ll find that:

1. You have a clearer sense of the real priorities in your life.
2. You give yourself permission to let go of the things that don’t serve you.
3. You have more time and energy to do the things you want to do.
4. You’re more available for everyone and everything around you.
5. You have more fun!

So, what’s your first step for getting back into balance?