New Book Review: "Life Balance"

New book review for Life Balance: How to Convert Professional Success into Personal Happiness – Powerful Techniques for the Successful Practitioner (The Ultimate Consultant Series), by Alan Weiss, Jossey-Bass / Pfeiffer – A Wiley Imprint, 2003, reposted here:

This text is part of a 7-part series by the author called "The Ultimate Consultant", and while this reviewer may not be interested in reading the entire series, another text in the series, "How to Establish a Unique Brand in the Consulting Profession: Powerful Techniques for the Successful Practitioner", was so well done that the premise of this book peeked my interest. It is not often that one finds material on the subject matter at hand – life balance that specifically addresses the consultant. As Weiss writes, "if you've achieved success in this profession – or expect to – then you deserve to enjoy that success in support of your life priorities". Balance at work, balance at rest, and balance in relationships is discussed, and a portion of the material presented originated from the author's "Balancing Act: Blending Life, Work, and Relationships" newsletter.

In the chapter entitled "Leverage – Archimedes Was Right: There's a Reason Why the 'Big Eight' Have Slimmed Down", Weiss offers an important reminder that this consultant appreciated: "There are several reasons for working hard and not smart, but the most critical is the search for perfection. We are tentative and hesitant to proceed unless we feel we've done everything possible to ensure success. However, most success is actually accomplished en route to the goal, meaning that the adjustments and modifications made along the way are the keys, since they are in reaction to real-time events and not hypothesized events. When you're 80 percent ready to move, move! The report, presentation, evaluation, meeting, workshop, or whatever will not be improved demonstrably by demonically seeking to improve that final 20 percent. Moreover, that final 20 percent of improvement is seldom perceived by the other party. In other words, the workshop participants, meeting attendees, reader of the report, person being evaluated, and other recipients can't appreciate the distinction of that final fifth. What they can readily appreciate are any adjustments you make that improve their lives."

Also well received by this reader was the chapter entitled "Innovation and Risk: We're Here to Make Waves, Not to Stick Our Toes in the Water", where Weiss writes: "People who tell you they've never failed are in one of three positions: (1) they've never tried anything really worthwhile; (2) they have and don't realize it; or (3) they're lying. Failure – and the willingness to take risks which may lead to failure – is the mark of someone whose professional life is remarkably in balance. Trying to avoid failure at all costs is highly stressful (because it's a game that can't be won). More importantly, you cannot run your professional life on the basis of not losing, not failing, and not incurring setbacks. In this business, we must play to win, not play to avoid losing. Every time you see an athletic team of any nature with a big lead lose the lead and the game in the latter stages of the competition, it's because the coach has opted to play it safe and try to protect the lead. That is, instead of playing with the intent to win, the team is playing with the intent not to lose. These are two radically different philosophies, and the latter is death to an entrepreneur."

In the appendix, the author offers a somewhat eclectic list of 150 personal pieces of observation and advice that he has assembled from his experience, and reiterates the refrain from other texts in his series: "Improve by just 1 percent a day, and in 70 days you're twice as good". This advice ranges from the serious in #4: "People often make the mistake of allotting time for various aspects of their life each week, thinking that the technique provides balance (two hours a day with the pets, an hour every other day exercising, a weekend day with a significant other). But this meeting out of hours only provides quantity, not quality. The real test is in the intensity, fulfillment, and enjoyment of the time, not the mere expenditure of it." To the humorous in #34: "One of the greatest lines I ever heard was spoken by actor Dudley Moore playing the title role of 'Author' when he drunkenly says to his long-suffering valet (Sir John Gielgud, no less), 'Don't you wish you were me? I know I do.' Hey, shouldn't we all feel so good about our lives that we aspire to be us?"