The 5 Balls of Life
The notion of plenty has not been pervasive in our culture, but it should be. It first came to me when I read Stephen Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. In it, he said there was enough for everyone.
Instead of a notion of plenty, I feel most of us are ruled by the notion of scarcity – the idea there’s not enough of everything to go around. In other words, some of us have to do without something because others have beaten us to it – the competitive, winner/loser mentality of ‘only the early bird gets the worm.’ This is so far from the truth. For starters, if I build my belief system on the notion of the ‘Success Road’ and being my own best self, I will always be a winner. Adopting the notion of plenty also makes me at peace with who I am, what I have and where I’m going; it allows me to know there is more for me if I choose to pursue it. These things together further spur me to go after what I desire. Whatever I choose, it is out there for me.
Capitalism is built on the notion of plenty; more productive people means more production. That production is indiscriminate; it is for everyone. When the first Motorola cell phone created a need, they were expensive and rare. But as infrastructure was built, productivity gains made and competition created, the cell phone became ubiquitous – they are so plentiful everyone can afford one. Someone once said if you want to know what the middle class will be doing 50 years from now, look at what the rich are doing now.
In general, the same is true for everything – more productive workers mean more goods and services and more people participating to a greater extent in the economy. That stimulates more revenue, which encourages more production, which drives greater buying power, and so on. It is a spiral of plenty because as we consume more, we make more, always meeting the demand of our fellow man. If each of us is our own best self and is socially productive, none of us need go wanting. We can still aspire to things and ideas, and no one can say they were deprived of a chance or an opportunity to acquire all they want. The key, of course, is to know what’s really important, to know what your ‘one thing’ is, and to understand the effort that will be required to attain it.
The long work hours in aerospace have always been a result of its dysfunctional and unreasonable approach to project scheduling and product implementation. When I was young and single, it simply meant a lot of extra money and I was good with that. I was well into the profession when family came along. By then, the mantra of ‘feet to the fire, get it done even though everything is crazy and unreasonable’ was getting old.
With my own company I was into it for different reasons. After a time, I had enough experience to realize if we executed the growth and skillsets of our company the right way, we could make those hours and those promises more reasonable and better manage customer expectations. For the most part, we made that come true. Still, it took many years of extra hours, hard work and self-education to believe it was possible and have an opportunity to show it. It’s called paying your dues, and in aerospace design and manufacturing there is no other way around it. I had to get to my 10,000-hour plateau of excellence in several disciplines in order to accomplish a more balanced life, or simply give up on a dream and be a 40-hour per week guy without one. That didn’t sound like an option to me. As old as it is, I think Henry Ford’s little autobiography, My Life and Work, says it well:
“I cannot pretend to say, because I do not know, whether the man who works always, who never leaves his business, who is absolutely intent upon getting ahead, and who therefore does get ahead – is happier than the man who keeps office hours, both for his brain and his hands. It is not necessary for any one to decide the question. A ten-horsepower engine will not pull as much as a twenty. The man who keeps brain office hours limits his horsepower. If he is satisfied to pull only the load that he has, well and good, that is his affair – but he must not complain if another who has increased his horsepower pulls more than he does. Leisure and work bring different results. If a man wants leisure and gets it – then he has no cause to complain. But he cannot have both leisure and the results of work.”[1]
It’s a decision sooner or later we all make. Some people have little passion for their work, so they seek it elsewhere. For me, it wasn’t only the work – it was the provocation, the belief I had the ability, and the chance to give opportunity to others. Granted, it didn’t start out that way, but it evolved into more than a challenging job requiring some creative thinking. It became an avenue to be a leader, and after a time, I came to know I could do it.
You may already know the five balls of life. The phrase comes from part of former Coca-Cola CEO Brian Dyson’s 1991 commencement speech at Georgia Tech University. I read about it shortly after it was given:
“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some 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. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.” (Here is the link to the that speech – https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/handle/1853/41404/1991-09-30_17_27.pdf)
Who says CEOs don’t have a conscience?
Committed to building my company, I tried the best I could with the other four balls of life – family, health, friends, and spirit. It takes careful consideration to allot time to those balls, to try and balance them. I think I did pretty well with that but for one glaring exception – my marriage. With my boys I think we did okay. Yes, I could have been more patient and been a better mentor, but in the end I think few of us don’t wish we could have been more of something to our children.
From the time I first read Brian Dyson’s concept 30 years ago, I have never forgotten the 5 balls of life. Between realizing the notion of plenty and the importance of life balance I have become more at peace with my choices. It makes it easier to say ‘no’ when I need to, and not regretting saying ‘yes’ when I do. I have stability and a good foundation, and I know the other four balls allow me to excel at the one that bounces back.
[1]Ford, Henry, My Life and Work. Create Space Independent Publishing Platform, Scotts Valley, CA, 2015, p. 32
