The Problem With A Balanced Life - The Four Burners Theory

[@Benjiffy]

Think I spend at least 70% on my fifth burner: worrying about how I'm not using any of the other four.

[@robbiejr91]

The leakage on the gas pipe, if we stay on this burner concept. Fix it. None else will do it for you.

[@shabirvalli8646]

Benjamin Clarkson 🙀

[@karmanyaahm]

@@robbiejr91 wow

[@rtgoxlv3003]

Hahaha that was fun, but truth for many

[@moonsdonut5188]

shit boy so true ide light your fire but your burner is not being used .

[@Kevin_Street]

I think for some people the "stove" isn't running at 100% efficiency, because there are things that are wasting our time, like procrastination, getting up late or even health problems. So the first priority should be "health" or "efficiency" or whatever is needed for us to utilize all of our available time. Then a better balance can be attained between the "burners."

[@kirkarnold9023]

I agree health is number one because if you're not healthy and Alive nothing else is going to happen to your family your friend your work you or anything else so you got to be mindful of your health it's got to be number one but don't spend too much time on it then you don't have time for anything else.

[@ArtJourneyUK]

Indeed... fix the gas pipe first, otherwise there’s no gas for any burner to run on.

[@antoniomariano7838]

@@kirkarnold9023 Agree. While the main idea is correct, it misses some good points: The total value we have to distribute between burners isn't fixed. With more health we can make our study/work time more productive, being an introvert like me makes me happy with my social life with minimum effort, etc. And then there is the Pareto Principle, it affirms that we can get 80% of the result with 20% of the effort, which is in a certain way the opposite idea of the video.

[@adavadnetvadaszYouTu]

But I have an essential burner, which is[ doing nothing useful alone] and if I don't give it at least a minimal time, I get really frustrated and unorganised, so it is part of my "efficiency burner group" let's say

[@mattiassjodin8838]

If you feel that way then set your health burner a higher level. But you're still buying into the arguments logic

[@TheBruno1960]

For me you are forgeting 2 major things ; 1) The huge leaking of gaz before the burners 📉. Most of us spend time to do nothing important. Watching random video on youtube for exemple. So if you need to increase a burner try to fix the leak first. 2/ You can mix the burner a little bit, go to the gym with friend, work with your fammily for exemple. Except those omission, i find this picture really good to figure it out how our decision can impact the rest of our life. Thanks 🙏 for your work, your visual 🎥explanation are really impacting my brain 👍

[@persianshayan3700]

Romain lopez really good

[@jameshutchins7042]

Brillant point. For now on when I'm wasting time doing pointless things I will see it as leaking my action taking fuel into a wasted moment.

[@ani_n01]

See this is what's killing me. Some days I decide to stick with productivity and it goes well, I don't watch yt I eat only vegetables I exercise I clean i give my best at work blah blah and THEN when my mental health and my immune system start coughing in the background I take the differeny advise incorporate rest back, spend half an hour in the shower and another one mindlessly walking trough the town to "treat myself a bit". And then after I'm better I beat myself up again over wasting my time and it goes in circles I'm gonna be 30 in a month haven't figured out what's the right way to live yet. Its so stressful I'm stressed over being stressed and feeling guilty all the time.

[@fajzulin]

@@ani_n01 please stop for a moment and breathe. Just breathe. This world has gone crazy on the success and the more you think about it and more you click on videos and articles about it the more they will display for you. This will give you the incorrect picture of the world. The success is only good if it doesn't kill you or hurt you with permanent serious wounds on the way. You wrote that you don't know what the right way to live is yet. There's no one correct answer to it. If you spend half an hour in the shower or some time on walking through the town, perhaps it is what you need. Your body and mind needs it and it's not wasting your time. Perhaps you spent to much time and energy on trying to be too productive. Control your stress. Feeling guilty may kill you as a person with all your individuality and potential. Love yourself more. Slow down. Cut off too much of social media, KZbin, and any other form of information overload media. Simplify your life. Focus on 2 maximum 3 main things you want to improve and work on them first, with respect to your limitations. If you need to talk - let me know. I've gone through similar things but noticed how destructive they can be. Being wise is far more important than being "successful".

[@ani_n01]

@@fajzulin thank you so much for your kind words, but idk if stress can be controlled now.. I used to be very lazy, spent years on an easy but poorly paid job, had no idea how to move in life. I used to spend all of my time with my friends (who turned out to be wrong people for me) or home alone playing games. Then shortly after I got married we moved and I suddenly discovered what it feels like to be useful and productive. I discovered my potentials and found that productivity helps me control my depression. My life has a purpose now, or one too many of them lol. I definitely need to make a list of my priorities but it's not gonna be easy. Edit : some months ago I quit making to do lists and it helped a ton but now I'm tempted to start doing it again because i have tok much on my plate I often genuinely forget what was I supposed to do. Social media I'm barely using i only sometimes check in this group chat but I should cut that off as well I know. Yt I can't uninstall unfortunately it's pre built :/

[@ervinfowlkes8326]

I think there are some big assumptions here: 1. The assumption of mutual exclusivity. Are the four chosen burners really on the same continuum? . If I work out with my family I am effectively running two burners at once. 2. Not every burner needs me at the same time. I workout at 6am, family is sleep, office isn’t open yet anyway. 3. Assuming that keeping a burner on requires time, being healthy is more about proper nutrition than time in a gym. So I can do that without cost to the other burners. 4. Assuming all of my energy is making it to the stove, there may be huge leaks that I need to seal first. But an interesting theory nonetheless.

[@catm.l.5951]

Exactly my thoughts arranged in a very accurate and logical way! Also, having a happy and healthy life actually increases your productivity at work, as studies have shown!

[@This_is_super_dumb_but]

As he said, you can balance all four equally. That is the status quo. That is the norm. So what you are doing, he's covered multiple times during this video. It's when you want to achieve "major success" in all four areas at the same time, and feel like you've failed because you somehow haven't, that he's saying "it's okay, you haven't failed, you are living life the best way that you can" because it's more rare to achieve success in all four (not impossible, RARE - listen again to his video) and so we shouldn't feel like some failure, just because society tells us we should each be the next Elon Musk with the Rock's workout schedule with the home and parenting skills of Martha Stewart and the social life of a New York socialite and authentic, deep, long-lasting and up-to-date friendships with each of the 1000 people we've come across in our lives... All at the same time!!! It's a pressure that we need to understand is not designed to be met. Pick one. Or pick two. Make your coworkers your friends so you can work those 100hours+/week. Make your healthy lifestyle your job. But don't give up on yourself or beat yourself up over it, because you're human...

[@TimTamSlam7]

That summed it up well- I think anyone leading a relatively normal, healthy life will attest that things like health are easier to manage because they take up the least amount of time to keep up, whereas friends, family, and work require time. My boyfriend’s health is poor, so as a result he is unable to work. Funnily enough, he is a really social person- he does focus on me and his friends who he considers family almost.

[@alanbejarano4940]

I think the major resource that comes to play is time. Any aspect of your life will require or consume time. Either it will be consumed in productive way or wasted. For most of us, when a fraction of time is used, a fraction of energy is utilized as well. Simulating almost a Linear function. Neither Time or Energy are infinite, so managing these resources carefully is a priority for any human, rich or poor.

[@OTPpride]

1) family business. Where does family stop and business begin? 2) not a valid point, you’re proving his point. You can’t burn all the burners at the same time. Elon Musk example. Yours is proof of balanced burners. 3) food preparation and getting a good diet while maintaining costs takes time. Sleep takes a lot of time, and that impacts health a lot. So does living space, unclean places cause illness, and cleaning takes time. 4) maintaining the stove is important, yes, and that would be more about understanding the power of choice as to which stove to give emphasis to at a given time.

[@googlesucks7840]

I employ my friends at my family's health food store: Life's a breeze.

[@shashankdixit4144]

Damn! You achieved those four.

[@googlesucks7840]

@@shashankdixit4144 Yep ........if it were true.

[@HealthyWC-2]

@@shashankdixit4144 it's a balance is your families health store going to improve in sales? Maybe depending on your friends, but we're they also the most qualified?

[@purerocketleaguegameplay4532]

LOL YOU MAXIMIZED ALL FOUR WTF HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE 🤣

[@googlesucks7840]

@@HealthyWC-2 Yes, my imaginary friends each have a degree in nutrition.

[@ardagus9917]

Calculating current burner status... Family: 5% Friends: 10% Health: 20% Work: 15% Doing absolutely nothing: 50%...

[@katuni08]

Ardagus I was thinking about that as well. Mental health is also important, so “doing nothing,” AKA “doing something fun that brings you joy” would fall under “health,” right?

[@athyrsonmr]

well, yes. but actually no.

[@jameslincs]

Watching KZbin videos 15% 😂

[@hansdegroot8549]

To which category does sleep belong? That's taking roughly 33% of all the time.

[@devilsadvocate3570]

For me Doing absolutely nothing is more like 70%

[@Giatros89]

Core message: Each choice has a cost and if you remember that you can be more thoughtful in your choices

[@somewhereright3160]

You can't neglect your health. If you're sick, you can't do anything.

[@seetsamolapo5600]

Health is non NEGOTIABLE

[@professortree5878]

Well if I forget it for long enough, the building may burn down and I can get some insurance money.

[@Khumzalet]

Seetsa Molapo o bua nnete rra💯

[@seetsamolapo5600]

@@Khumzalet kea leboha ntate. What's on your 2nd burner after health?

[@brucewayne1636]

right somewhere right

[@petersteenkamp]

Faulty logic. Less health means less personal energy, and then all the other "stoves" will lower as well.

[@hgzmatt]

diminishing returns.. there's a point where it doesn't benefit anymore

[@AlyD247]

Exactly! Health is the one that is essential! There are even a lot of studies that say working out, eating right or even having enough sleep have effects on your work, education, etc.

[@purerocketleaguegameplay4532]

Well actually, if you don't spend time with your family you will be depressed then your health will go down.

[@vornamenachname906]

it's not true, Peter. You have a full battery at birth, you can discarge it for an long amount of time. so you can live unhealthy long time, before you have the real effects (like cancer, heart attack etc)

[@OTPpride]

The stoves are interconnected. People can’t afford to be healthy without work. People can’t afford a social life either, and become a drain on their family.

[@itsyaboinadia]

Umm, there's actually 5 burners: one for memes

[@BetterThanYesterday]

How could I forget? 😀

[@Lucasshane09]

itsyaboinadia top comment of 2019

[@vishvajeetsinh_solanki]

😂

[@vishvajeetsinh_solanki]

you made me laugh man

[@itsyaboinadia]

@@vishvajeetsinh_solanki you made my day man :D

[@Ayot793]

Ah, this must be why I just end up spinning my wheels and inadvertantly slipping into mediocrity when I try to be amazing, disciplined and perfect in every area of life at once.

[@suzannerosevillamor9646]

Same. I just noticed after watching this video.

[@adavadnetvadaszYouTu]

Yeah... You already know, but... Don't di that if it hurts 😅

[@luisoncpp]

I don't find this a very good model, it's true that time is a limited resource, but this is not the most accurate way to model it. The video already pointed out that there would be more than 4 burners, and aside from that these are other points that the theory fails to consider: - There may be activities with "burners" overlap (like hanging out to study), or exercising on the static bike while talking with friends, studying or doing something related to work. - Sometimes the performance in some areas could affect the performance on others, for example, having good health allows to perform better at work. - Spending more time in something is not always the best answer for getting better results, usually it matter most how the time is spent rather the raw amount of time spent. - The way in which we decide how to spend time doesn't depend only on ourselves, in many things we depend on the time of others (for example, we cannot hang out all day if we want to, because friends have work or study themselves). - Conversely there can be small habits that doesn't take away any important event from our life and have a big impact in long term (for example, brushing our teeth). I know every model is a simplification of something and no model is perfect, but I would argue that this model fails to consider so many things that it becomes useless. It recognizes time as a resource but at the same time it basically diminishes every effort to spend it wisely and reduces to just subjective priorities rather than smart management.

[@alexreid2393]

luis enrique vargas azcona Interesting

[@gmkbelanger]

This theory draws a false equivalency between health and the other three: people that exercise and eat and sleep well have more energy to pursue the other three and perform cognitively better at work. Their mood, motivation, and stamina are better which boosts the results of any effort or time invested in work, friends, and family. It is simplistic and incorrect to assume that life is a zero-sum game, and that anything you give to one area takes away from the others. Having colleagues at work who are also friends has innumerable benefits, and sometimes these friends become "family". The "burners" can blend and melt into each other to a certain extent, and an approach that benefits one area of your life usually has a knock-on effect on at least one of the others.

[@Maxissc_]

That's why it is a theory. It's not intended to explain life, just a diffuse concept, an idea

[@AdonisGaming93]

Yes and no, it does work in the sense of there's only 24 hours in a day. The issue I think is more that some people don't have all their burners turned up so they won't even reach 100%. Yes working out boosts mood and might make you more social but that alone doesn't CAUSE better friendships. Gotta be careful, correlation does not equal causation. People who work out and feel better, aren't magically finding more time with friends. They probably just didn't have the burners up at all and were just not even turning them on and instead wasting time at home alone, sad bored. Life may not be a zero-sum game when it comes to trade between countries etc. But when it comes to time it absolutely is. There is a limited amount of time and while yeah health might add years at the end of your life, what you do with the 24hrs per day is limited and zero-sum. The quality of that time can be increased but not the amount of time. I took this video as you can run your burners 10% balanced and if increasing health helps you turn on other burners more then absolutely do it, but no matter how much health you go for you can't get past 100% usage (time). I guess it just depends on how you interpret the video. Plus health also has diminishing returns. Yes going to work out will help, but it isn't linear. Eventually you reach a plateu where working out more doesn't really add that much more to other areas of your life. To the point that athletes actually can have worse health if they stop working out. For example professional athletes that develop extremely strong hearts have a problem with resting heart rate during sleep being dangerously low that it can actually cause health issues if they don't maintain the workout. I need to find the source for this because it was a fascinating study. Everything has diminishing returns.

[@comradeofthebalance3147]

Maxi Schmidt That is a problem. Theory are hypothesis which are proven with consistency . This should be a hypothesis rather than a theory

[@fmazerolol]

No, you're wrong. This theory is not talking about the transcendence or importance of each burner. It's simply developing the idea that we as human beings have limited amounts of energy and time, as such everything you do has a cost. If you put more effort into your work, that will inevitably translate into you putting less effort in other aspects of your life. You say health should be considered more important, as when you are healthy, you can do the other things better, and while that is true, things aren't as black and white in real life. Many times, it may be better to neglect health to attain certain goals. For example, if you take a difficult degree in college, chances are you will have to "sacrifice" some of your health in order to get through it if you were to compare that to choosing something easy (and likely less remunerated). However, after college, despite being less healthy initially, you can work more "efficiently" now. Meaning you will not have to get 2 or 3 jobs to perhaps be able to retire much much sooner. Which would translate into you having more time to work on your health. Which one is healthier? Well that really depends, but that is still not the point of the theory. So while what you say makes sense, you still failed to understand the point of the theory.

[@newlyborncorn]

I disagree. Everything is connected. When you improve one area of your life, you're more likely to improve upon other areas as well. Edit: Also, energy and motivation isn't finite. You create it when you follow your heart. Time is, of course, a factor. However, I sincerely believe that most people lack in passion, more so than in time.

[@essentialdeparture9999]

You're joking, right?

[@newlyborncorn]

Essential Departure Sorry, but not everyone's a slave to the system. This is what the elites want you to believe. Work your butt off and die a rich man/woman, devoid of any true meaning or spiritual growth. The rat race is fine for some, and I'm not here to judge, but just know that we all have the power to be so much more than unidimensional beings, chasing the latest upgrade of temporary relief.

[@essentialdeparture9999]

​@@newlyborncorn Well, that I can agree with.

[@playgroundofsound7683]

The Joker exactly life is ONE burner.

[@deadbutmoving]

I disagree with your disagreement. What you think people lack in passion is in really that they lack priorities. People are choosing to spend that time on something. Time isn't a magical thing that just disappears because someone isn't doing something. We are all forced to spend our time on something. What they do with their time will define who they are. If you wanna be mediocre at everything then by all means aim for the "balanced" life. But if you wanna be the best at something, you better be prepared to spend a lot of time and effort to fight off the competition. Which means you will have to turn down the other burners.

[@MegaWatcher35]

Actually Health should come on top. Why? If you get sick I mean really sick, it hurts you financially. Health is wealth after all. When you're financially challenged if will affect your relationships like family and friends. So don't work go the point of losing your health or sacrificing your time for family and real friends.

[@hgzmatt]

Maybe it should.. but it's in the future.. maybe you are stuck in a job you don't like with no relationships and some time intensive hobbies. There are so many things you could be doing with your time and the modern world makes it really hard to get exercise. You have to go out of your way to exercise when it really should be part of your daily tasks.

[@БелянцевНиколай]

Health + whole life of learning and thinking must be higher others. Too bad most people won't do it. But it's thier chose , so whatever.

[@БелянцевНиколай]

@@hgzmatt , if you hurt your health far too much , you can become broken from inside or even insane and become burden to your world. Or just suffer a lot. Our body is super vulnerable to physical factors , as well as dangerous weapons and vehicles . Our psychical and mental stability are vulnurable too. If we get ourselves severely hurt, and unluckily not to not to die to this( from physical damage not by our intention or suicide), we will become just burden for most people. And I don't have an idea to die old, I want to die before that. But becoming burden instead of really good ability to die if I feel too much unluck life suddenly drops on me is not what I want (even so our humans lifes are not that different(except for choices and consiquences), I just feel like this).

[@pandora5526]

I think health it's about doing exercise, meditating, etc.

[@infiniteexplorer7563]

Best comment

[@PowerMatrixAnime]

Revolve one of the burners around others. Befriending successful people is a good example.

[@GeaForce]

This kind of reminds me of a story about a man who spent most of his life building a time machine. When he finally managed to finish it, he went back to the past to convince himself building a time machine was an stupid idea

[@Hexanitrobenzene]

Seems like a wise sci-fi story. Title ?

[@megamatze7858]

I'm only commenting so I'll know if someone answers. Just ignore me xD

[@aligamiles]

MegaMatze yes same

[@TheSandsplash]

Ever since I heard of 4 burner theory in 2018 I revolve my life based on this and it works like magic. My career burner is fully active till I got a very good job, now I am focusing more on family and relationship balancing with health.

[@thialitamoura5134]

Good strategy!

[@frankxhaja8571]

I did the same thing

[@n6412297]

Great points in the video! From experience the different areas can produce synergy at least to some degree, eg. Improving health and fitness allows me to be productive at work, confident around friends; improving work/income allows me to pay for gym membership, personal training, going on big trips with friends, etc... it is also true it is possible to have poor health leading to poor work performances etc... I think the most important thing is for each of us to have priority of focus that is in line with our values so that we can produce synergies and maximise our desired outcomes

[@vanillacokejunky]

I agree with this concept. I was in gifted programs and schools and was constantly warned: "You can spend time socializing with friends, you can get good grades, or you can get a good night's sleep. Pick 2." This was a simplified version of the burner's theory excluding Family and I found it to be true.

[@ilyamikhin8178]

I think you can manage juggling all 4. Work 9-5 then family, to stay healthy you need a healthy diet and workout 2-3 times per week which is not hard to manage and you can spend time with friends and on hobbies on weekends. Problem is when you plan everything you at some point feel like life is too strict and u get tired following rules all the time.

[@yomer355]

That's exactly what he's talking about in the video. Of course you could have everything in balance. But what that means is that you won't be as successful in your career as if you put more time into it instead of spending that time with your family and friends.

[@lege4153]

Depends on what percentage "meeting friends on the weekend" equals. One night out with one or two friends is great, but it's less than 25% in my opinion, so it's cut down time to me

[@PatasEmPauta]

If you work only 9-5pm, you won't be highly sucessful in your field. This will be just a regular job in most cases. If you want to work extra time to make the difference, or study more to have more skills at work, or start your own bussiness, you will need more time. The same thing with you family. If you work till 5pm, then you have to drive till you get home, then once you arrive you have to work out 2-3 days of the 5 day week, eat, bath, sometimes go to the supermarket or the dentist/doctor, etc., and at the weekends you are out with friends and doing your hobbies, you won't be the best dad (or mom) you could be. You can still be a good parent, but instead of doing hobbies and hanging out with friends every weekend, some parents will focus every weekend on spending time with their kids... And even you admit people won't be able to follow that since it is so strict. We are not able to do it, period. And that brings great relief, we can't be perfect on all fields, and it is ok. =D

[@verity3616]

I agree this four burner idea is deeply flawed because, for many people, these four burners are NOT mutually exclusive. And they don't need to be; we should encourage people to incorporate what is, essentially, physical, mental, and emotional health in everything they do. Exercise, friendship, and family, should not be excluded from education or work *time,* even when someone is going hard at a goal. And Elon Musk is a fucking liar. He's not an engineer he's a marketing tool who counts tweeting and going to red carpet events as 'work.' Normal people can meet friends and do something that is health promoting simultaneously- like eat healthy meals, exercise, go play basketball together. You can be a great parent by incorporating your children, even when they are very small, in healthy or friend activities too. Are you all big fans of soccer? Then coach a kids soccer team, ask your friends and their kids to join, and you're spending time with them and your child and being healthy. There are also ways of stacking this with work. Find jobs that let you be flexible. Spend your lunch hour exercising, or walk around the building, bring your own lunch and eat healthy, make an office friend and then you can network and socialize. Find an after school activity or children's course that is similar to your area of work, then your child can learn what you do and you can have more meaningful conversations with them. It is possible, it just requires creativity.

[@QuyNguyen-pb6op]

​@@yomer355 Any thing have its cost.This exactly is the Life.The only thing can change is the way we use our time.

[@CrisSkyTube]

It’s obvious, Elon Musk has come up with the technology to make his days, and only his days 48 hours long.

[@AmriteshGaniger]

The reality is, most people didn't even turned on the stove yet.

[@wendyev310]

Amritesh Ganiger I was going to say 😂

[@gionagrace3343]

LMAO...Ohhhh how very true!!!!!

[@shaggybg]

I tend to disagree. Some aspects of our live take less time, but have a huge impact. For example, working out 5 hours might not be good for the health, but working out for 30 or 40 minutes could bring much bigger impact. Then, provided that time for this burner is small amount of the day, you can do it daily and still have a strong area of your life. Then, there's more time for the other burners, some of which might... need more time. At the end you can have balance (not in terms of time, but in terms of quality work done for the burner/area), and still strong aspects of your life. It takes practice, discipline, organization, and time management. But I believe it can be achieved. Don't get me wrong - I see the idea of your points, and that over time we can prioritize some areas over others, but I believe smaller time with bigger quality can still make us benefit AND have the balance we want to define ourselves, and not the balance, which somebody else defines.

[@oldtexasscare]

Totally true. Life is too short to spend it on "balance". If you are persistent enough and have a desire to success, there's only one way to do it.

[@mikisommer949]

It was an interesting perspective. Where I differ personally, is that when I say I want to live a balance or have a good work/life balance, I don't mean spending an equal amount of time on each thing that is important to me, I just mean spending some time on each thing.

[@EJofLA]

This was sooo refreshing. Everybody else always talks about balance. I listened to this and haven't gotten very far in my life as far as many life goals. Yes I have a great quality of life, but I want to meet my goals. The Four Burners Theory validates my hunch that I need to put some things on simmer to heat up other aspects of my life. This is really helpful, gratifying and soothing to hear. Thank you!

[@TimeFliesTimeManagement]

Very good job 👏👏 Very simple way to illustrate how to manage finite scarce resources such as time. Very well done! ✨✨

[@shanemahabirsingh7215]

This applies to employees more than employers. As an employer that was once an employee i can attest that i am now able to fulfill all family & friends needs whilst keeping my business successful. Health isn't a burner, it's the fuel. Other employers don't have this balance because they started their business before starting their family. I had already balanced out my family & friends before deciding to go into business & then i structured my business around them. I'll admit it definitely took a long time to make the business successful but I made sure to never compromise the first 2 priorities along the way. The result of doing it like this is that your business is molded to your life & your life is not molded to your business.

[@4516n41]

I pump iron while I talk about business with my friends and family ;Þ

[@jamesharris37]

When I worked as a mattress consultant at a major retailer, I had a co-worker who was a cashier. On the side she was a theater actress, who had an agent who was able to help her to be on commercials and to have walk-on roles on certain TV shows and movies. I asked her why was she working at the store. She told me she was studying to be a nurse. Well at the store she was able to ring up more credit card applications than any other co-worker. She told me that she was using her acting skills to trick people into signing up for credit card applications. She said that she talked so fast that she never gave people time enough to think about what they were doing when they were signing up. The more credit card applications she had people to sign up with, the more money she made. She had enough money to pay for her tuition and to take trips at least once a month to the Bahamas and to Las Vegas with her boyfriend and with her sister. She's now a full-time nurse but she has enough time to travel and brags about how much money she makes as a nurse and with the help of her agent, she still acts on the side. If she has 4 burners that means she's giving 100% to each burner which makes that equal to about 400% total. She always said, "don't work harder, work smarter."

[@PracticalInspiration]

Really good explanation. It's full of trade offs, but like you say, your priorities change with time

[@rakefetbecker1591]

🐕🐍🌏🌍 Fgknj

[@bamboolaceway]

I have a burner also for my faith,and church. But i likeyour explanation. You make time for what's important for you.

[@matthewmartin784]

Where has this brilliant genius been all my adult life? 😂🥺🤓😎....Thanks for an amazing, eye opening and practical view on this matter. Your observations and videos are so cherished by me. Thank you for taking the time to share them with all of us!

[@hgzmatt]

He is indeed great at copying numerous other channels and regurgitating information.

[@LeBingeDoctor]

This video removed my guilt for rarely seeking friends. In fact, I was just focusing my energy on other burners. Thanks you!

[@ridinwithdatnina]

Very amazed by how you simplify procrastination in general. This will definitely help

[@hariman7727]

This is why marriage is so powerful. It allows one of the spouses to focus on work, and the other spouse to focus on family, while also leaving time for taking care of friends and health. This is also why the more recent "both parents working full-time" household has been so destructiveto society and to the health of many of the kids raised under those circumstances. Because both parents put a lot into the "work" part of their life, and the family, friends, and health parts of their life suffered. Especially their kids. I know from experience.

[@billybobinthehouse12]

I love your content! Simple to understand! And congratulation on the growth of your channel, it’s amazing to see your work come to fruition! I look forward to more philosophical videos, it’s a nice little treat for me 😊

[@PatasEmPauta]

I see many people saying they can do everything at the same time if you plan properly. While I agree health doesn`t takes that much time, I think it is just and example. If you consider everything that is important to you, like cleaning and organizing your house, add hobbies, volunteer work, we can`t do everything AND be highly sucessful. I believe this theory is great to remind us it is ok not to be highly sucessful in any area but be avarage and balanced OR to choose to be highly sucessful in one area and be negligent at others for a period of time. The idea that it is possible to do everything just brings suffering when we fail. It is not possible. Those saying we can because we work 9-5 and then do other things do not understand this is to be HIGHLY sucessful. If you work 9-5 you may have a nice job, but you won`t be highly sucessful in your field. Those who truly are dedicate a lot more time than that to exceed. I am trying to balance exercise, working 9-5, working on my channel, house chores, giving attention to friends, giving attention to family and volunteer work at an NGO and it does not work. I am being forced to choose. Sure, I spend more time on my phone than I should, but I believe it is part of being tired and anxious about trying to do too much.

[@t.regnerus301]

I threw my old stove out and bought one of those fancy induction cooktops. Now I don't get burned by any of my life issues.

[@autumnshade84]

This metaphor is good for seeing how one decision impacts on another, but I’d say it’s way way too simple for practical life balancing. No one should feel they have to give up on things that make life meaningful. I’d say effective routines and time management will fix a lot of this. You don’t need to spend hours at the gym, a well timed hour of exercise with friends or your spouse will tick off multiple burners at once allowing to fit your work day and actually make you more productive. If you it that in routines, you’re life will be balanced and much happier.

[@lroptions1210]

*I'm happy just being comfortably rich, I don't have to have Warren Buffet money.*

[@FelipeKana1]

Becoming "comfortably rich" can be already a tough success, depending on your country and backstory. You just sounded like a lucky person that is in contempt with what you have (no problem with that, but put some perspective, some people to get to "comfortably rich" need to burn 100% on work alone)

[@Shadowerr1]

I find that consolidating areas of my life has been a good way to combat this problem. I exercise with my family/friends and my work always brings new friends along with them. Broadening the burners so they resembles overlapping Venn Diagrams has given me a better balance, I’ve found

[@1845Raven]

This reminds me that Arnold Schwarzenegger gave up going to his own father’s funeral because he was working (preparations for major body building contest).

[@richardevans8908]

He also didn’t really like his father so that’s probably a deciding factor.

[@nicholasgannas5018]

It's a lie. He made that up for the Pumping Iron documentary.

[@greenearthblueskies8556]

Nicholas Gannas 🤣

[@SuperReallyNice]

I've found happiness in work and family. Got no friends, been blessed with good health and healthy decisions.

[@ItsFrostyPie]

But we can use our Available fuel more Effectively so that even limited fuel produces more effect.. So when we are efficient in use of the fuel even when they burn at 25% we may be doing better than a person who is less effective in use but investing 100% fuel on a single burner. Not only this all these areas of life are interdependent when we are healthy we work Optimally and so on, so we should not consider life as having different aspects which are completely independent of each other investing in one aspect leads to improvement in other aspects as well. SO BALANCED LIFE WITH SUCESS IS POSSIBLE WITH OPTIMAL USE OF RESOURCES. That's what I Believe

[@tokagesan21]

As usually great video, keep the good job. Actually, most people have 2 categories of burners : Useful/productive and Useless ones. - The 4 one from that video are within the useful one, what really matters. - Social media, drinking, bing watching TV, procrastination... are the useless burners. Just by switching off the useless burners people will hugely increase the time necessary to have a pretty descent balance in what matters. Your health can, time-wise, easily be taken care of everyday. You can go to work by foot, bicycle... eat healthy, you can always squeeze 30-60 minutes a day exercise basically anywhere, anytime. Just make sure you have time for a good 6.5-7 hours sleep. You can even listen to some audiobooks, podcasts, or catch up with some meeting records while exercising. Try to work or exercise with your friends... Not practical for everybody but there must be some way to. The "friend" burner might be the one suffering the most if those friends are very different from you. Commit to some "full attention" time with your family, you live in the same house... even just an hour a day, plus maybe a full Sunday ( as do Musk by the way) And just cut off the other burners : Countless hours on Netflix, video games, drinking, all social medias.... They bring absolutely nothing.

[@xordux7]

Great video! But I think synergy can help you achieve more than your 100% potential. Lets say you go to work on a bicycle(good for health). Or you have a group of friends who have similar interests as you do and you all study together. Its not easy to find synergy but once you find it, you can have a more balanced life. :)

[@MugenTJ]

xordux - there is no more than 100%, synergy considered. The point of this vid is the importance of trade offs . All the comments say one can mix the burns...well yeah you will eventually lose sights of efficiency. This has been my chronic problem to deal with in life: knowing where to put my focus.

[@xordux7]

MugenTJ I used to think same until I started combining two or more things which are important to me. It is hard to find synergy, in some cases there would be no synergy at all. But if you can find it, your life becomes easier.

[@luck3949]

Yes, I agree. Also, let me add one other important remark: 2. dedicating more time isn't the only thing you can do to improve your life. "Work smarter, not harder". When I'm looking at the things that have brought success to me, I see, that a lot of them are very small. Like, visiting a language exchange might take just 1 hour, but lead to a long term romantic relationship, or visiting a summer school might take just 2 weeks, but be as educational, as a semester in university. It took me a few hours (and a lot of guts) to write an email to some active researchers, but one of them accepted me as their student. Oh, and also one thing that I've read in book "Essentialism": usually there is no such thing as balance --- but there is an active process of balancing. So there is nothing wrong in putting all the gas into one burner for a limited amount of time, if your life needs immediate actions in that aspect.

[@amandamadaci7797]

I think this is the best video I have ever seen. Subscribed

[@Otterbandana]

Agree on satisfaction as a focus...foe me that”feels” balanced...key is acceptance and how you view your life, if you know what you want, if you avoid comparing, and operate from the heart

[@thespuditron9387]

This is the animated version of the Hello Internet episode: 4 Light Bulbs. And that’s no bad thing. 👌🏻

[@RyanValizan]

OMG, someone finally brought economic theory into psychology as an explanation, and it makes sense! If we look at the time in our lives as a finite amount of money; we all know that we have purchasing decisions, buying power, and opportunity costs, so it would make sense that we would have to choose more wisely where to spend our money. If we think of work as buying a ferrari, if our life funds only had $300,000 in it, there would be little left to afford housing, clothes, and food. While exact balance may not be the best decision for progress, to me, balance is attained by being in control of the decisions you make in life about where to put your energy that is most advantageous to where you want to go. Not everything deserves as much time and energy as another. Balance is not about putting everything to 25%. Balance is knowing, “i’ve put in 40hrs for the office this week & want this finished asap; but, at the same time, I have ambitions to work on this other idea, so I’m going to put in a few hours there now because it too ads value to my life. Great video 👍🏼

[@kenji5000]

I prefer the idea of getting a newer stove or a better stove like exercising to get more energy or meditation to reduce stress. Unplug other devices around the house, like bad habits and procrastination. Perhaps cooking two things on the same stovetop. Like walking or biking to work. Or building friendships at work to help you at work more efficiently.

[@yomer355]

Ok, you got a new stove. Now what? You still have to choose what burners to use and to what extent. If you're working more, you're not spending that time with your family. If you spend more time with your family, you're not working as much as you could have been. You can't escape this choice.

[@AR-vu4hr]

I think it's a bit of a stretch to suggest that walking or biking to work will fall under the work burner. It's still time that is taken out to exercise (health burner). Travelling by car or working from home would be faster and more efficient, leaving more time to actually work. Also, re: forming friendships at work, you must mean liking or getting along with your colleagues. If those friendships were real, they wouldn't be based solely around work (they would involve getting to know each other, and helping out with personal problems etc.) - but suddenly that would mean we're wasting time at work dealing with friendship concerns. We're not superhuman, to achieve true success or mastery requires sacrifice. The myth of being able to have it all is actually quite damaging.

[@beeber2141]

@@yomer355 sometimes working more isnt as good as working smarter, which i think equivalent to a new better stove

[@tia904]

@@beeber2141 Everyone who achieves more success at work works a lot more in almost all cases. It is the nature of the beast. Working smarter only gets you to a certain level, ex getting work done sooner but not usually achieving greater success.

[@masnunaminkhan6306]

I don't want to read what others saying. I just want to say that it was a life-changing video...Thank you so much.

[@urvashibhushan8089]

Thanks. It was much needed.

[@Sammy-nw9xv]

You can adjust your energy at different moments, on very important phases you allocate more time to work for a promotion, on holidays you allocate the energy to friend and family. But most importantly, always keep health at #1

[@amytan2019]

5:19 thanks for saying that

[@zameelvisharathodi7859]

A very important video in this era when everyone are vying for the highest productivity and perfect human being.

[@adityashekhar2564]

Make friends at your work place only..one burner is taken care of.😊

[@JimCarel]

ha ha that would be the most boring thing i have ever heard.

[@shamanosanity6557]

I killed the 1st and 2nd burner and started to concentrate my work solely on my mental health and succeeded ! I've sanitized my sanity and my cognitive intelligence is in high gear and my overal results are peaking through the scales.

[@thattimestampguy]

0:00 We want The Best 0:48 4 Burners, Limited Power 1:56 Elon Musk imbalanced on work 2:35 Let all areas burn, some more than others, but don’t turn off any of them. Or devote your life to 1 of those burners. 4:14 The burners may burn differently throughout life 5:28 Sacrifice, Trade-Off

[@nachannachle2706]

Here is my hack to this conundum: 1. Family (parents & siblings) + Studies/Work during youth (Age 5-20) 2. Studies/Work + Health as a young adult (Age 20-35) 3. Family(progeny & parents) + Health as an adult (Age 35-60) 4. Health + Friendships (Age 60-80) Addendum: -No point focusing on Friends before you settle, because you will keep drifting away from them. -No point battling with Work when you have children, because you will ruin your health. -Focus on Family through your life because they made you become who you are.

[@Unknown-sg4tv]

Conclusion a person can only have a balance of two things. We are only human, we can't be perfect.

[@Mikel_7595]

Thanks for this video. I have always been beating up myself for not spending enough time with friends. But watching your video has made me realise I have been putting my most time and effort on work, family, health and I am getting most returns here in terms of growth, happiness and fulfilment. Thank you for showing it’s okay!

[@romanrajnigandha9640]

Was watching your video right now

[@TakeControl1337]

Your videos are so well done and thought out, they are worth being revisited over and over.

[@giorgenesgelatti3987]

That's not entirely true. Not everything require full time to be well developed. For example health, eating well and exercising doesn't take that much time and the effects compound over time. You have to eat anyway so might as well eat well. It's pretty much the other 3 that you have to balance. If you don't work on your health everything else will suffer in the long term. You can neglect your health when you're young but for how long? Also taking care of your health translates to more energy to do the other 3 areas. So no, neglecting your health won't make you more successful at work or family or friends. On the contrary

[@SpikeLawliet]

True, half of being healthy is just sleeping 8 hours and eating healthy food. Some exercise is good but walking 30 minutes per day is enough

[@user-dl3vn8ze9n]

Family 10% Work 10% Friends 5% Health 5% Doing irrelevant things 70%

[@nameforcomments4092]

This video would have been perfect if half of the sentences had ended with: "Except for Fred Rogers, of course, who was perfect."

[@ufoufo2788]

sometimes i think success is an illusion. as 4 burners are equal, you might not have some large goal, but you will have comfort and be able to achieve a good life. everyone has their own measures of success and to me that's all i need.

[@studiousguy9761]

Very well explained

[@robertgoes79]

Better health strengthens all the burners and gives a better focus. More money makes it possible to get someone to clean your house and do many other things for you so you have more time for family and friends. Great theory, thanks for sharing!

[@vaibhavtripathi4951]

Wow, this is some good and new knowledge.🥰 Thanks a lot brother.👍 Can you please tell me from which platform I can learn animating videos like this? 🙋

[@tgosuke]

So all this stuff we were told about being "well rounded" in school was a complete fallacy. I'm so mad but thankful for a different take on the human ability 🙏

[@sleeplife752]

Rather than burners,life is more of a Venn diagram. Befriend your working colleagues,excersize with friends and family. Being healthy saves money from diseases and makes you function better. Sometimes,family is toxic and needs to be cut off and can't work. Sometimes SOs do stuff that ends relationships. The extra stress places mental burden and ruins health. That affects your interaction at work. At the same time staying clean and looking the best you can helps in befriending people and makes you more likely to get a promotion and more likable by colleagues. This lets you choose good friends worth the time. There's also time spent on KZbin,games,etc which don't help the four burners. It's a bad model but it at least teaches you something important,get your priorities straight.

[@prosamis]

Honestly needed to hear that I always thought of myself as a failure for not having a balanced life and excelling at everything at the same time

[@tonystark-gz5no]

you can do it... as the video illustrates...lets try to pick smart choices! goodluck to you! i believe you can take things around in your favor!

[@prosamis]

@@tonystark-gz5no thank you:)

[@kabuteshiitake7071]

Every choice has a cost. Beautiful.

[@mohd-arz]

I love your contents I am from tamilnadu.india...

[@thecurrentmoment]

Unless your work involves cleaning while practising the piano... One way around this is to make your activities synergistic, e.g. run a family business, have an active job, exercise with friends, involve friends with family, etc. We have this odd idea that the areas of outlives are separate, so this theory then holds true, but traditionally all the areas of life were interlinked and synergized with each other

[@notorious_diego2446]

I equally dissapoint everybody in life i live a very balanced life

[@FireGam3r1]

cuz you didn't upload a video for month i thought you stopped doing these videos , thanks god you are back with an amazing video

[@felscorf456]

Mr Scrooge: "Screw family and friends"

[@kavyakalaivan8446]

I love the narrator’s voice !

[@thersten]

I could care less about my work burner. I'm always on the family and health burners 👍

[@Minizzile]

Must be nice

[@thersten]

@@Minizzile it's ok. No money, a really old car, have to be cheap, but no stress, no health problems (thank God), and I look and feel half my age. 😀

[@mindsinmotion2825]

This is such a true theory and I feel more people need to hear it. Every I hard doing what makes me happy for what's most important to me (my daughter) i know that by raising her properly now will pay off when she is an adult and can function in society on her own leaving me opportunity to focus on doing what makes me happiest

[@hasithahasitha660]

The mini habit method worked so well for me and your vedio s are so excellent. Keep it up sir

[@bb546123]

You can use your friends & family to keep up your health. Then use your friends insights to be successful. (Since like minded people stick together, the rich, to have success.). Then use that success with your family.

[@michaelcrandall1841]

Can you use the microwave to speed up the process? Seriously, burn hot when you're doing anything. It is possible to work hard, then go home and give your family love and attention, go out with friends once in a while, paint, practice guitar, bass, piano, volunteer at a convalescent home for seniors, swim, exercise, study for school, and write a book. And watch hockey. That's my regiment. You make time for what and who you love. If you love yourself more than your family, they will suffer as your business thrives. Just my opinion. God bless

[@tarns17]

Exactly...its about balancing all that is important to you - not sacrificing one, for another. To me anyway, its about carefully and intentionally dividing up the 100% (in time and energy) you do have - into each area that is important to you...not giving up, or sacrificing time/energy in one area of your life, for another. I always give 100% focus to everything and everyone that I can, when i am present in that moment (including to myself, with my passions and interests, selfcare etc)...but that doesnt mean I give (or, have to give) 100% of my time, to each - or more of my time and energy than I do have.

[@xxdrowssapxx1]

You missed the point of the video. There are trade offs in every decision. If you spend time with your family, you are giving up an opportunity to further your career and vice versa

[@tarns17]

you dont have 'trade offs' (or at least they wont feel like traditional 'trade offs') if you intentionally choose to balance all aspects of your life carefully

[@BriefNerdOriginal]

Since ancient Rome, agricolture dealt with this same problem, as soil needs some rest when intensively cultivated. So, they used rotatory seeding from year to year, while leaving a terrain raw for a year, so that yelds were globally optimal.

[@divergentthg7925]

Yep the theory only works for people who gets to have the stove or the four burners.

[@alexturlais8558]

Everything is connected and things arent mutually exclusive. Spending a few more hours on my health and exercise then I felt better and more productive with work, and enjoyed more time with friends.

[@K87jk]

People are replaceable, health and life purpose aren't.

[@zelie1155]

I think it would be a very good idea to choose things that overlap multiple areas of your life. Spend time with your friends/ family exercising would be an example. What if your work involved being healthy (nutritionist, personal trainer, tourist guide, etc). Hiking with family members takes out *two birds with one stone.* I think there is a way to squeeze more out of life than we think.

[@myscreen2urs]

Uuh, my KZbin watching burner is on full blast right now. I think I need to turn it off so I can focus on my sleeping burner. Good night KZbin.

[@bradendredge6809]

If you’re imbalanced, you don’t need to decide which burners to turn off or even let low. You just need more fuel. And that fuel could come from the sacrifices you make in the 5 or 6 or 10 burners you have. If you don’t just sacrifice, but consecrate yourself, you’ll see the benefits. If you’re spending the right amount of time with the right friends, they’ll fuel you back up. If you’re not just studying hard but studying smart, you’ll keep the information for the long term. If you’re healthy, eating a good breakfast m, getting at least 7 hours of sleep and doing at LEAST 15 minutes of exercise each day, you’ll be more capable of giving service all day long. If you’re doing it right, your sacrifices will fuel you right back up.

[@KeepQuestioning243]

I agree to a large extent, but wouldn't taking care of your health make all the other burners more efficient? (By the way - just "found" your channel (thanks youtube algorithm) and I see from your titles that you discuss lots of things I've been wanting to implement in my life. Let the binge watching/listening begin!)

[@vtboomamj]

First and foremost, thanks for providing the type of content that elevates and educations as I find it extreme valuable and it can truly improve the life situation of anyone who takes the time to watch and learn. That being said, the book Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life by Stewart D. Friedman gives you a technique that flips the four Burners theory on it's head. Instead of having to choose one burner over the other. The book has you look deep within yourself to determine your "four way wins" in which you are able to meet all four domains/burners simultaneously. An easy example of that is say, after deep reflection you found out that you core values were self mastery, increasing world awareness, protecting life, understanding, as well as a few others. With this knowledge, you started pursing a career where you teach fitness type activities, while doing the activity, (think teaching people how to run while running with them) while also sprinkling in life lessons and encouraging a two way dialogue within the class of life lessons (i.e. lessons that aren't just fitness related). So this would check fill your work burner, (because get paid for the service) your self/health burner (you are learning from others in the class and teaching them as well), your community/friends burner (you are building relationships and helping the community) and if your wife was a co-teacher, it would fill your home/family burner in other words it would be a four way win, where all 4 burners at at 100%. That's a simple example but with deep reflection, there are creative ways to find something similar with in your own situation. Thanks for taking the time to read this!

[@League._.landyt]

Omg i needed to hear these facts today, thank you so much

[@maxjones503]

Not facts. It's a theory being described.

[@krishanbhalla9245]

Excellent video. Thank you

[@psyenergy1]

We have 17 hours in a day. 8 hours to work 2 hours to health, 2 hours to friends 2 hours to family 3 hours to study There perfect balance. The key to peak life experience and performance

[@jb6712]

You can't set one formula and call it "THE key to peak life experience and performance" when others neither can, nor want to, live that way. It's merely A key, one way out of countless ways, for one person--you--to live. Enjoy yourself, and live YOUR version of a "balanced" life as you see fit.

[@psyenergy1]

@@jb6712 if you think mastery or time spent only in one area can compensate for failure in others is effective. You are mistaken.

[@AnkitaSingh-yj5sy]

@@psyenergy1 Commute? Housework? Rest? Lots of things that stop you from living as per the above-mentioned key

[@psyenergy1]

@@AnkitaSingh-yj5sy rest comes under health. House work could go under family.

[@ioio7470]

Heard of something called the Cost Of Switching ? Residual from the hanging out with Friends would detract from good study session /good work session. Family might be sick , there goes time away from other partitions that u made