December 2025. Sawsan Khuri. Is it a balance or an eternal juggle? How to find balance in the juggle.
Time, attention, balance. three words that are often spoken in the recipe for success. How well do you practice what everyone thinks they are preaching?
We know that where your time goes is where your attention goes. Whatever it is you are focusing on in that moment? That’s where your time is being spent. Sounds obvious… in practice, to many people, it is not obvious at all.
In today’s society it is easy to get time, attention and balance all mixed up. There are endless distractions, competing theories, and an overwhelming sense of pressure to keep up, overproduce and overperform.
A lot of the language we use in relation to time assumes we are fully in control of it, for example ‘manage your time’, or ‘spend it wisely’. However, often we are not in control of our time at all. We are within interconnected systems where other people also make demands on our time and often we are not in a position to refuse. What we can do is regain some semblance of control by being more intentional about how we spend our time more generally – to be more effective and productive in the time we have.
We have all been a victim to ‘time slipping away’ because we have not been intentional about where our attention has gone. Scrolling on your phone, chatting to a colleague, watching a gripping tv drama, staring out of the window of a fast moving train almost irrespective of the landscape outside… these can turn a short break into hours of procrastination.
Sometimes the distraction in our own minds, overthinking, worrying, being emotionally overstretched or simply overworked. Even when our personal lives aren’t enough of a distraction, the world offers its own weight with endless news cycles and global crises demanding our emotional bandwidth. Our attention can change one minute to the next, often without our consent… and with it our time follows.
So how might we make better use of time and attention?
It begins with presence. Be attentive and grounded in the moment. Be intuitive enough to ask yourself, is your mind full of overwhelm or are you mindful of the task before you? There is a difference between a mind that is full and a mind that is mindful. Once you are physically present, your mind becomes more willing to follow your direction.
Step 1: ATTEND
Show up with intention. Arrive not just physically, but mentally with focus.
Step 2: DE-DISTRACT
Clear the noise. Physically, mentally or both. Set the scene for productivity, consider your mood, environment and mindset.
Step 3: ORGANISE
Physically, you can use a planner, calendar, task list, digital or not. Mentally, prepare your mind and gather all the information you might need.
There are many tools that can help you find the balance in where your time goes and where your attention lands. For example:
- The Pomodoro technique which is basically a 25 minute timer for work, taking a5or 10 minute break between stints.
- Use an hourglass, you can find them in 15, 30 or 1 hr sizes as well as the smaller ones of a few minutes.
- Use curated playlists, productivity apps, or even sticky notes on your office wall or back of your door…
- Be as creative as you like.
- The list is endless.
The most important thing is finding what works for you. Sometimes it is a tool, other times it might be a boundary. It might even be communicating with those around you and saying, ‘leave me alone this week please, I need to focus’.
Life will never be completely straightforward or distraction free. Being intentional about the success you want to achieve is within your control. What the balance between time and attention looks like is ultimately up to you to define.
Success isn’t built from squeezing more hours out of the day, but from aligning our time and attention with intention. When we take the steps to show up and be present, to de-distract, and organise our inner and outer worlds, we begin to reclaim the moments that once slipped away unnoticed. Balance is not a final destination; it is an ongoing practice. Less about control, more about awareness. The more deliberate we are with how we spend our time, the more meaningful our outcomes will be.
So, thank you for your attention to this article! Now spend a few moments of your time strategising about how you will use the learnings in your life to define the balance that works for you.