The launch of Do More Great Work has had a rhythm all of its own. If it was a dance, it would have been a combination of the quickstep,The League of Extraordinary Dancers, and a bad attack of malaria. In other words, interesting, slightly too sweaty and I'm glad to take a break.
Now, post-launch, I'm thinking about what I want my rhythm of work and life to be. Here's what I'm considering:
* Who do I love?
I love that the last line in the last Beatles' song is "And in the end the love you take/Is equal to the love you make."
Pretty much every deathbed moment has people thinking about the people that matter in their life, and not so much whether their Inbox is down to zero. (Maynard Keynes the economist may be an exception. He wishes he'd drunk more champagne. Which is also good advice by the way.)
What's the rhythm that allows you to hang out with those you love and those that love you back? I know for me I'm constantly seduced by the busywork and spend too much time holed up in my office. That's going to change.
Who makes you smile? - See #5 in The 5.75 Questions You've Been Avoiding
* What do I love?
This is one of those big Great Work questions. What's still giving me juice, exciting me, making me dance?
I don't want to just be doing stuff because I was doing it 12 months ago just because of momentum.
For instance, I know that I love the creating process - taking ideas and turning them into something funky and inspiring and useful for people.
And as I look ahead in my calendar, there's almost no space held for that. I'm traveling and delivering workshops and having fun … but that's not going to be enough.
What do you need to hold time and space for?
* Public/Private
My wife and I have a code phrase, "public/private". It's uttered on those occasions where one of us - almost always me - is about to reveal something that really should stay private between Marcella and me. It gives us (me) the chance to rescue myself from a moment of Too Much Information.
With social media lapping at our feet everywhere we look, this question of public/private is starting to mean something different for me now. It's how much time do I spend in the public eye and connecting with all of you, and how much time am I private, on retreat.
Where do you stop the performance?
* What's really urgent?
Chris Brogan, who is as prolific as he is wise (ie. very) has just published a post called "The Assault on Anywhen". In it he rails against this ever intensifying circle of urgency that drives all we do. Everything, it seems, requires an immediate response and was due yesterday.
I've been getting caught up in all of this recently too. Time to take a breath and find out what's important rather than urgent (with a hat tip to Steven Covey).
What really matters?
Don't Take My Word For It
Smart people thinking out loud about balance.
"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony."
-Thomas Merton
"If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable."
-Donald Trump
"Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance."
-Brian Tracey
"Love and work... work and love, that's all there is."
-Sigmund Freud
"It must be a balance in everything we do, not too much of everything, keep it simple, not complicated."
-Abdullah Amad Badawi
"Problems arise in that one has to find a balance between what people need from you and what you need for yourself."
-Jessye Norman
"In art and dream may you proceed with aban don. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth."
-Patti Smith
"In today's society we sometimes forget to balance our hearts and our heads; this is the reason we stop laughing."
-Yakov Smirnoff
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