Oftentimes I see people whose lives are simply out of balance. Years ago I was driving my 280zx, (proof of my continuing juvenile tendency) and evidently I had lost a balance on the right front wheel. At 45 it began to shake very badly and I was in 65 mph traffic. Here was my dilemma: go 45 or less and go stable, or go 65 and shake myself to pieces. This is a perfect picture 1 see of a lot of people who really cannot go more than 45 without shaking and yet they are being pushed in the back by traffic going 65. If they could only stop, or knew to stop and get that little balance on the wheel that will get them back operating without all the shaking. If you are balanced for 45 and you're being pushed at 65, you've got troubles. Get it fixed.
A recurring theme among leaders is getting back to "the simple life,"which usually comes down to a matter of controlling time. I know a lot of people who don't even have the time to attend time-control seminars. In fact, some could save considerably if they really understood the use of time. They could start delegating and quit taking the courses. In addition to delegation, they could also stop making foolish mistakes, for it's in the mistake-prone clutter of life that we use up so much of our time. It is so much more efficient to prepare than to repair. Then too, doing what doesn't need doing but doing it more efficiently is not really good time control. It's better to stop doing the things we don't need to do in the first place. I'm always reminded of my friend Charles Pitts in Toronto whose outstanding construction company built the Toronto subway. He would tell me that every night they would go to a cocktail party and when he would get back home he would swear he never would go to another one but the next night he was out going again. Anyone doing this doesn't need to go to a time-control seminar; he just needs to have the guts to stop doing things he doesn't want to do in the first place.
There has been an outbreak of seminars and books on reducing stress. The simple or balanced life doesn't mean life without tension. If the plant didn't have the pressure of capillary action nutrients would never move from the soil to the leaves. Simplicity doesn't mean checking out, but identifying the principles of life that get your strengths into play and moving everything else to the periphery. Balance doesn't mean living life in neutral. Nor does balance mean that each area of life has an equivalent focus, but it does mean that the integration of the parts make a complete whole that works. Men and women are going to define balance differently. Men have a particular ability to compartmentalize activity and thought. But the bottom line integration should result in healthy living. Driving a 45 mph life at 65 mph is asking for trouble, but often skillful adjustments can put us in the passing line without vibration.
