Quotes About Balance

It's very difficult to look at the World and into your heart at the same time. In between, a life has passed.

We set this house on fire forgetting that we live within.

Agile project leaders help their team balance at the edge of chaos—some structure, but not too much; adequate documentation, but not too much; some up-front architecture work, but not too much. Finding these balance points is the "art" of agile leadership.

Agility is the ability to balance flexibility and stability

Be quick, but don't hurry.

The middle of the road is for yellow lines and dead armadillos.

There's a time to be humble and a time to "bring the thunder".

There are times to be humble and times to bring the thunder!

This is a honeydew day. That is when you get a day off and the wife says, "Honey, do this," and "Honey, do that" around the house.

Because energy capacity diminishes both with overuse and with underuse, we must balance energy expenditure with intermittent energy renewal.

Emotional flexibility reflects the capacity to move freely and appropriately along a wide spectrum of emotions rather than responding rigidly or defensively. Emotional resilience is the ability to bounce back from experiences of disappointment, frustration and even loss.

Sprinters typically look powerful, bursting with energy and eager to push themselves to their limits. The explanation is simple. No matter how intense the demand they face, the finish line is clearly visible 100 or 200 meters down the track. We, too, must learn to live our own lives as a series of sprints—fully engaging for periods of time, and then fully disengaging and seeking renewal before jumping back into the fray to face whatever challenges confront us.

PRINCIPLE 2: Because energy capacity diminishes both with overuse and with underuse, we must balance energy expenditure with intermittent energy renewal.

Full engagement requires drawing on four separate but related sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.

Overwork is this decade's cocaine, the problem without a name," says Bryan Robinson, who has written widely about the phenomenon and estimates that as many as 25 percent of Americans have the addiction.

We are machine-centered in our thinking—focused on the optimization of technology and equipment—rather than human-centered—focused on the optimization of human alertness and performance.

Rituals also help us to create structure in our lives.

The simple, almost embarrassing reality is that we feel too busy to search for meaning.

Energy, Not Time, Is Our Most Precious Resource

We live in a world that celebrates work and activity, ignores renewal and recovery, and fails to recognize that both are necessary for sustained high performance.

Stress is not the enemy in our lives. Paradoxically, it is the key to growth.

In his Treatise on Painting, da Vinci wrote, "It is a very good plan every now and then to go away and have a little relaxation. . . . When you come back to the work your judgment will be surer, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose the power of judgment.

Drugs are a bet with your mind.

You must also give mental and physical fitness priority.