A couple of weeks ago we talked about the Mixing Desk Analogy, which is a great life-balance tool for comparing where you are currently to where you want to be. There are a couple of other tools which I think are worth mentioning, and these are great for fine tuning the balance between different areas of our lives.
The triple bottom line
The first of these tools is the triple bottom line. This was conceived as a tool for businesses looking to measure success in terms of social and environmental impact, not just by profit. It is presented as a Venn diagram, which enables us to consider all of the dimensions relative to the others - far better than a simple pros and cons list or a linear score.
Adapting this tool for personal sustainability is not difficult. If we think of the profit dimension as being 'pay' or our personal financial situation. All of the other labels can stay intact.
Obviously the aim of the model is to help us move towards the place where all three of the dimensions are balanced. The model calls this place sustainable. For a business this would mean that they are making good profits, but are having both a positive environmental impact and being beneficial to their workforce, customers and the wider community.
One of the great things about this model, is that it gives us language to express what it looks like when two or more of the individual dimensions are in balance. Clearly it is better to be in one of these spots than purely in a single dimension, but in terms of the broader model it is not sustainable. If we are making a positive societal and environmental change, the model calls this bearable but it will ultimately fail for lack of finance.
Using this kind of tool we can quickly plot where we are at the moment, and where we would like to be. Depending on our current situation it may be easier to balance two of the dimensions first before aiming for all three.
Take some time to look at the model and draw where you think you currently are. Then plot where you would like to be. Finally try to draw a line between the two to show how it may be feasible to get there. This is unlikely to be a straight line, as it may be you need to increase one area first before you can focus on another.
Tools like these are made to be adapted. As you consider the channels you listed in the Mixing Desk excercise you might want to choose other dimensions to see where these are balanced.
In a later post we'll take a look at a more personal life balance tool called Ikagi.