I was playing golf with a few old friends last week and inadvertently stumbled upon yet another valuable lesson for the Resilient Worker! After striping what I thought was my first brilliant tee shot of the day (a blind, dogleg right), I walked up to the ball in the middle of the fairway and prepared for my second shot. But as I looked closer, I noticed three initials on the ball in bold marker: “B.R.P.” Clearly, this was not my “brilliant” tee shot. (For those of you keeping score at home, my ball was actually deep, deep in the woods!) Anyway, as my friend approached, I asked him about the distinct placement of the B.R.P. initials. He calmly explained the meaning:
” Balance. Rhythm. Patience. I put that on every golf ball. It is the key to a successful round.”
It struck me as a perfect mantra to relax and slow things down on the golf course. And it struck me as an even more apropos reminder to strive to maintain balance, rhythm, and patience in our professional and personal lives!
If we are not careful, our work lives can quickly slide out of balance. We can maniacally push ourselves at the office at the expense of our health and family life. That is not balance. We can narrowly focus on one customer, team member, student, or player at the expense of the others. Putting all our eggs in one basket is a risky and often ineffective approach. That is not balance! In order to be successful, we must work hard and pour our soul into the task at hand. But we must take an even-keeled approach if we are to maintain long-term success. Establishing a formal rhythm and routine in your work life can help you stay productive and prosperous without risking burn out and loss of focus. This approach will take discipline and patience. You won’t be successful overnight. But life is a marathon, not a sprint! It may take several failures and rejections before you get on the right track. If you are young, you will get there. If you are older, it is never too late. Maintain your balance. Establish a comfortable rhythm. And most of all, stay patient. Your best is yet to come.
The same is true in our personal lives. Are you too social and not spending enough time on your studies or work? Are you spending too much time at home in isolation instead of stretching to establish new relationships? Are you obsessively focused on the success of your children without taking time to nurture your own happiness? It will take a major effort but you must consciously strive to maintain a healthy balance between competing priorities. As long as you are exerting the effort to establish a consistent rhythm and routine despite the chaos, it will all work out in the end. But ultimate satisfaction in your personal life requires patience. At various points, you will turn too far to the right or too far to the left. That is okay. Balance and rhythm will be in constant flux throughout your life. You must stay patient and keep working through the natural ebbs and flows. You must never give up!
This is especially true when you suffer a setback. When things get so far out of balance, hardship is inevitable. A lost sale or opportunity. A damaging personal decision. A broken relationship. No one is immune from the harsh realities that sometimes transpire in life. But if you are to stay resilient and bounce back from these mishaps, you must be patient. You can’t wallow in your misery. At the same time, you can’t expect to recover immediately. Resilience requires the discipline to analyze how we ended up in the situation and the courage to move forward despite the pain. This will take time. Everyone has some sort of struggle. You are not alone. Stay patient. Your rhythm will return. Your life will teeter back into balance. You will not stay down forever.
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. –Albert Einstein
Balance. Rhythm. Patience. It is the key to a successful round of golf. It is the key for the young to establish themselves in this world. It is the key for the old to maintain their legacy. And most importantly for our journey, it is the key for all of us to perpetuate a resilient life. B.R.P.!
Until next week, keep smiling!
I love that Einstein quote! Years ago I struggled with work/life balance as a teacher but as soon as I made incremental progress towards balance and realized it could wait, both work and life were better for it!
Absolutely, Em. It is one of the hardest things to do. But as long as you are not paralyzed and at least working on it (incremental progress as you say), all will work out!