Chapter 5
The one thing
Have you seen the movie City Slickers ? After having a mid life crisis, Mitch
has joined his buddies on a cattle muster through the mid-west of America. While
riding along they start talking about the 'one thing' that is important to them.
Throughout the rest of the movie they talk about the 'one-thing' and in the end
this 'one-thing' is different for different people.
It got me to thinking about what the 'one-thing' would be to a business. What
'one-thing' do you need to have in business ( or life ) to succeed. Could it be
defined ? Could it be made simple ? Could it be made generic ? All interesting
questions but I think I have come up with an answer. What is it ? Well, I reckon
the 'one-thing' is BALANCE.
Business ( and life in general ) is all about maintaining balance. You need to
balance the needs of the customer with those of your staff. You need to balance
the cash needs of the business against investing enough for future growth and
development. The whole thing is about balance the more I think about it. When
the business is having problems if you stop and look at it, then you'll probably
find there is an imbalance. Maybe, there's been too much time dedicated to
something or too much money has been spend somewhere. Just take a look and
you'll probably find an imbalance.
You will also probably have to balance your work and private life so I think a
simple thing like balance extends a long way into our lives. Think about it,
when were you most happy in your life ? Probably when everything was in sync and
balanced. Think again, when were you most ill at ease in your life ? Probably
when something was weighing you down. When did that feeling disappear ? Probably
when you got your life back in balance.
It seems today that so many people are trying to find something that is missing
in their lives. Have you ever seen the Ying and Yang Symbol ?
This symbol represents a perfect balance between two opposing
sides ( black and white ). Where black is most dominate at the top white is
weakest, however the opposite is true at the bottom of the picture. Also,
totally enclosed in, where each side is strongest, is an island of the opposite
colour. A very profound symbol if you take the time to study it.
Over the years, grasping to understand balance, I have have come to understand
that it is not possible to totally eliminate one side. Thus, in the above symbol
to totally remove one colour would remove balance. Thus, the world in which we
live will always be filled with opposites. It is also a world where we can never
totally eliminate one side. The truly wise man understands that many forces come
to bear in their lives and they don't try and eliminate what they don't like or
ignore what they can't handle, they learn to balance the forces to achieve
harmony.
Deep eh ? But how does one achieve this balance ? Well, that will be the subject
of my next post grasshopper. The path to balance comes from control.
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