“The reason we shouldn’t pursue balance is that the magic never happens in the middle; magic happens at the extremes.” — Gary Keller, The One Thing
In the book The One Thing, the author posits that instead of seeking work/life balance, we should go for counterbalance: balancing one extreme with its opposite. If we work hard, we need to play or rest to equal degree. For myself, I regularly embark on photography road trips whenever possible.
This idea has stuck with me; not just in relation to work/life balance, but as a general guideline for how to develop resilient people and organizations. Thanks to technology, we have no choice but to combat an extremely high pace of change and complexity with their opposites if we’re going to stay sane. Either/or thinking must be replaced by both/and thinking, which is the way of abundance. Paradoxically, abundance doesn’t add to complexity; we can have it all, if we apply the principles of counterbalance.
Artists of all types understand the concept of counterbalance: light and dark, large and small, bass and piccolo. We push the contrast in black & white photographs. Both/and, not either/or. The Golden Ratio, revealed in biology and mathematics, art and design, is a study of contrast large to small. Neuromarketing is tapping into our brain’s hardwiring to respond to this “ideal” pattern and form as the perfect aesthetic value. The fact is, our brain likes contrast. The magic truly is in the extremes… yet we have a hard time putting this into practice in our lives and work.
Here’s a list of counterbalance opportunities:
Left/right brain
It’s important to exercise both sides of our brains if we’re going to thrive in the coming years. Logic pairs with creativity like peanut butter and jelly.
Creatives and connectors tend to be incredibly averse to left-brain logic, but it’s how they’ll be able to sell in their ideas, structure arguments, and make better decisions.
Conversely, little kids all believe they are artists, yet most are shamed out of that idea before middle school… so it’s no surprise that creative thinking isn’t encouraged in so many workplaces. A good start would be to stop reserving “design thinking” for people with design in their title. At home, we can reignite those things that made us really happy as kids— creative writing, drawing, playing.
Coincidentally, the right brain enables the rest of the items on this list. I’ve been writing about orchestrated thinking — strategically using left and right brain skills within organizations — and only recently realized how much this concept touches every aspect of our lives.
Fast/slow
Give yourself permission at least once a week to be totally, utterly lazy, with nothing on your calendar. I spend my Sunday mornings in bed with my coffee, and a journal or a good book. If I find myself in a state of overwhelm, I’ll binge-watch Amazon Prime and nap the entire day. Time is measured by the left brain, while the right taps that timeless “flow”state. The uniquely American culture of “always working, including vacations” is slowly killing us. Setting healthy boundaries is an underdeveloped yet necessary skill that employers must nurture to avoid burnout and expensive turnover.
Noise/silence
Life is noisy, and often we can rely on noise as a crutch to not hear our own thoughts. Counterbalance noise with silence: turn off the radio and TV, or go for a long walk in nature. Stop talking and listen. Be with your thoughts, honor them, and let go of the ones that don’t serve you. Communication is governed by the left brain; the right dwells in silence, or speaks the language of wordless music.
Together/alone
Solitude is underrated. It brings to mind the idea of loneliness, but they’re not the same thing. Solitude, combined with slowness and silence, allows us to restore and recharge. Solitude is a prerequisite for building our right-brain muscles. “From Darwin to Picasso to Dr. Seuss, our greatest thinkers have often worked in solitude.”
Conformity/authenticity
We’re hard-wired as humans to fit into the herd to better protect ourselves from predators. Conformity to rules protects us from injury, and it helps align employees toward organizational goals. But conformity must be balanced by authenticity to avoid the inevitable failures of trying to live someone else’s life. The path of happiness is to match our environments to our true selves… a lesson I learned late in life. The right brain governs our gut instincts that alert us when we aren’t living our authentic lives, and it won’t leave us alone until we begin reconnecting and embracing all sides of who we are.
Machine/human
Much is being written about how artificial intelligence, robots and automation will take over many jobs we take for granted today. Technology will, and already has, fundamentally change our realities. We need to consciously, intentionally counterbalance our workplaces with what makes us uniquely human: empathy, creativity, connection (all right-brain strengths.)
Complexity/simplicity
In organizations, time, money and energy are spread too thin across too many initiatives, with no good way to prioritize… much like what happens in our daily lives. The path of simplicity relies on the use of an “organizing principle,” or ruthless clarity of purpose. As an analogy, you wouldn’t push all the keys on a piano at the same time, or cut the keyboard in half, in a search for balance and simplicity; rather, you’d press the right keys at the right time in order to create the intended melody. The melody is the organizing principle, the purpose, the structure underneath complexity, allowing you to create a symphony within our lives and organizations. The key is to find the common denominator(s) across the various components, and cut away what isn’t part of the melody. And in case you’re wondering: yes, seeing these patterns and the gestalt — the whole and the parts — is a right-brain function.
In summary…
I’d love to hear from you. Which of these opposites resonate most with you and why? Have I missed a pair?
