Part of the great American dream is to have more leisure time and less of the drudgery that often comes from making a living. Funny, but it seems you have to work even harder than before just to process all the information telling you how to achieve that type of lifestyle.

There is so much “chatter” filling our email boxes, coming from online mavericks and maidens, the television, the newspapers, uploaded videos, downloaded content… how do you even begin to separate what’s real?

Another challenge is that once your mind can take all this information in, how do you find the time to process it, not to mention act on what you’ve learned?

It’s possible to work yourself into a frenzy like a mouse on a wheel trying to cover all your bases and get things done. What I find happens to me is that the more I work to get ahead this way, the more I fall behind.

Working this way, is your mind really focused on any one task or objective? Can “all-nighters” really improve your productivity? What’s the solution when everything clamors for your attention with the same amount of urgency and priority? Have you ever had the feeling you’re tired of being “busy being busy?”

There can only be one real solution to this overload and overwhelm. Somehow, we have to learn to slow our progress and our process in order to increase our speed and our growth.

In other words, “slow down to speed up.” Lives and situations today are all out of balance. I know mine is sure starting to seem that way. Recently I’ve started to pry myself away from my PC monitors (I use 2) and enjoy the beauty of nature. Long walks invigorate me.

I thought I’d share my thoughts on ways to regain balance in your life.

1) Take a walk. It’s nice to start out with a problem on my mind, or a challenging situation because at the end of my walk, usually I’ll have come up with a solution or an approach to use.

2) I’ve found it helps to step away from situations or individuals even if it doesn’t seem to make sense to anyone else. If it will help to restore my perspective and balance, it’s a must do.

3) Trust yourself and your own judgment. If you’re feeling out of sorts, there’s a reason or a situation you need to take a closer look at.

4) Be more flexible with yourself and others. Does the task really have to be done right now? What’s the worst that will happen if it’s delayed a bit?

5) Realize that you may have other options you’ve been overlooking.

6) Seek trusted advice but realize the ultimate responsibility for change rests with you.

7) Review your priority scheme. Can some items be downgraded to lesser importance or eliminated all together?

8 ) Screen what media you allow inside your environment and what amounts are acceptable.

9) Clean house. Get rid of multiple unnecessary email accounts, remove yourself from lists, shut down subscriptions, and consciously decide just how much information on particular subjects you really need and will use.

10) Make decisions and take ownership of them. What can realistically be altered and what must remain?

Hopefully these tips will make a difference in your lives as I’m hoping they will in my own. This blog, Success Chronicle, was created to share my adventures on the way to earning a living online. In the process, I have made many new discoveries, and many new friends.

Thanks to all of you for becoming loyal readers. In keeping with my post title, I find it necessary to step back from daily blogging in order to review my progress, eliminate some of the clutter, manage family challenges and most of all, make a living online.

I have discovered many new tools that I think will help all of you including Ed Dale’s 30-day challenge, John Chow’s free make money online ebook, and Wendy Piersall’s eMoms at Home. It will take a bit to go through it all and sort things out.

From time to time, I will be posting more tips and tools to help you succeed. My posts will no longer be daily though I will add something at least each week. I hope you will continue to support me and this blog by checking back often to see what’s new.

Successfully yours,

Tracey