The 58th Edition

Is there really such a thing as balance or is it just another thing to feel guilty about?

Something to Think About

Balance doesn’t always mean doing a little bit of everything all the time, it means knowing when something deserves your everything.

Something to Ask Yourself

Where in your life are you craving balance… when what you really need is commitment?

Article of the Week

Challenging the dream of perfect work-life balance, this piece argues that balance is a myth, and maybe even the wrong goal altogether. Expect to rethink how you prioritise your time, with a focus on purpose over perfection. It offers a refreshing take for anyone who feels like they’re always juggling too much.

Track of the Week

new music from Tyler… Admittedly I haven’t made my way through the whole album, but this one’s fun.

This week’s track of the week is…

By the way, if you didn’t know, I put all these tracks in a Spotify playlist…

Personal Lesson

In the lead-up to Devil’s Gulch (a 100 miler I completed – yay), I didn’t pretend I was balancing anything. I wasn’t. I was obsessed. Tunnel vision. My days revolved around tapering, preparing, calming the mind and being as ready as I possibly could be. I didn’t feel too guilty about it either. It was something I chose to give my energy to. I knew the other things could wait. Not forever, but long enough.

I then went straight from that achievement into a wedding in Scotland, extending my time with the foot of the gas on work stuff. Life doesn’t pause while you tick off dreams. But it also doesn’t reward you for pretending you can do everything, every day, all the time. I’m only no, over a week later, sitting down to catch up on a mountain of life admin, coaching projects, a half-finished van, brand partnerships, and an international move in less than two months.

I feel behind, but I’m not behind. I’m just focused on what matters right now. Life is seasonal. Projects are seasonal. Training is seasonal. If anything, I feel clearer for having fully lived in the moments that asked for my full presence.

I am not perfect at this and, like you, am figuring it out as I go. But this is something that, although has taken me years to learn, I think I’m starting to understand.

Running – Life’s Metaphor

Running teaches you when to hold back and when to go all in. There are miles where you coast, miles where you suffer, and moments when you dig into reserves you didn’t know you had. The balance is found across the whole run, not in every step

Final Thoughts

We live in a culture that celebrates productivity hacks, glorifies balance as a daily achievement, and quietly shames people for focusing on one thing at a time. That’s nonsense. Real growth, real achievement, and real satisfaction often come when we stop trying to balance everything and start being present with one thing.

There will be times when training takes the front seat. Other times when work gets everything you’ve got. Times for family, times for adventure, times for rest, and times for head-down, blinkers-on commitment. The skill isn’t in juggling it all at once, it’s in knowing when to shift your weight from one foot to the other.

Zoom out! Balance isn’t a daily outcome. It’s the result of long-term self-awareness and seasonal focus. A meaningful life isn’t tidy. It’s responsive, real, and a lot of the time feels messy.

So don’t feel bad for letting some things rest while others rise. That’s not failure. That’s rhythm. That’s life.

Thanks again for reading and subscribing.

Run the runnable, and keep showing up for yourself!

Tommy 🙂