It would be nice if we were made of a substance like one of those
really durable, big, fat rubber bands. No matter how much you stretch
it, it just continues to expand.
But we are not. No matter how capable you are, there is a limit to how much we can pile on without everything crashing in.
Some
of us are better at multi-tasking than others. When people look at me
as an example, they can’t believe that I can keep all of the various
balls in the air that I do.
But I remember back to the days when
we ran 40 projects for 20 customers in a year. That makes “writing a
book, launching a new technology and doing select consulting engagements
for people that I really love” seem like child’s play. Balancing three
things plus being a mom of two active teens? No problem.
Yet,
that year that we did all those projects — that was the first year in
more than a decade that we lost money and I nearly killed myself
physically. I ended up with chronic anemia and later that year had to
have surgery. Fortunately, my team was able to pick up the slack when I
was out recovering for three months, but after that, I decided that I
couldn’t keep up that pace and in fact had lost my passion for
consulting as a result.
The life balance mischief is thinking you
are invincible and not knowing which of the balls that you are juggling
are fragile and which will bounce back if you drop them.
I have
seen the following attributed to Bryan Dyson the CEO of Coca Cola
Enterprises from a commencement address, someone else claimed to hear it
at Price-Babson Fellowship Program and have also read this quote in a
book.
No matter the source, take this one to heart:
Imagine
life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You
name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit – and you’re
keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a
rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.
But
the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit – are made of
glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed,
marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same.
p.s. I have since regained my passion for helping companies heal from the inside out, a company medic of sorts. Many don’t know their true problems and are just treating symptoms. I find that most organizational problems begin with people and it isn’t until you get to the bottom of those that you can free a company up to achieve its true potential.
Chicke Fitzgerald
Chief Mischief Officer