14 Balancing Your Life
W
E NEED TIME TO DEVELOP OUR MINDS. AND WE NEED TO HAVE OUR
lives in balance if we are to be truly smart. As Honoré de Balzac
wrote: “Time is the sole capital of people whose only fortune is
their intelligence.” As you have seen, learning is the most powerful
aspect of human capital today.
Working hours are often long and, for many people, getting
longer. Communication happens so quickly that people expect
instant responses. It is as if the concept of the in-tray no longer
exists. There is no place where data can sit until you are ready to
deal with it. Telephones divert so easily from mobile to home to
work and back again. Information seeps into our lives in an increas-
ingly pervasive way.
We went through this when faxes were first invented. A let-
ter sent by fax somehow seemed to be more important and urgent
than a letter sent by the mail. Then there was voicemail. Now, when
you record a message for someone, you somehow expect a reply
more quickly than if you had left a message with a secretary. No
sooner has an email arrived than there is a sense that it has to be
answered. Many business people answer some of their emails at
home or on the train to and from work. Copying emails indiscrim-
inately is becoming a form of office terrorism. We can book holi-
days, order groceries, and check our investments over the internet
at the touch of a button, wherever we are. All we have to remember
the number of our credit card and its expiry date.
You already know how the wrong kind of stress adversely
affects your mind. Indiscriminate email is undoubtedly causing the
wrong kind of stress in too many people. For many people, the flow