These days Captain McDonald has very sophisticated computer software
and hardware available to him to help carry out this task but he
always personally overseas loading operations when in the safe
haven of the port. Moving goods forward and aft, to starboard and
port all the time balancing the vessel in readiness for the journey
ahead, he is aware that the cargo and more importantly the lives
of his crew and himself depend on carrying out this activity successfully.
Why? Because Captain McDonald knows that when he is on the high
seas he will be subject to the full range of forces that nature
can conjure up. From being becalmed to facing Force 10 gales, through
dangerous swirling currents, to dealing with rocky coastlines and
balmy sunny days, Captain McDonald knows that if his vessel is
not balanced properly in port and a major storm hits him, then
the vessel could well flounder and sink without trace.
Of course most of us can see the common sense in this. Yet when
it comes to human beings do we see the same common sense in trying
to balance our own lives?
If we liken life to the journeys that Captain McDonald takes,
we will be subjected to many of the same issues of storms, of boredom,
of rocky times in relationships, of a lack of clarity about our
destination, yet when do we take action to ready ourselves? Do
we create safe havens where we can invest and balance ourselves
in readiness for the journey or do we try and make short term fixes
along the way often in the midst of the storms we face?
Over the last few years the phrase Work Life Balance has entered
the British organisational vocabulary. The rapidly expanding stresses
of living in the 21st Century have resulted in a growing awareness
that something needs to be done so that more people enjoy the journey
of life. Yet, the very term Work Life Balance conjures up an image
that we have to somehow create the optimum load in just two dimensions
of, Work ‘Life’ and Life ‘Life’. This rigid
notion can create the impression we have two lives, one at work
and one outside. Furthermore the classic question of ‘Do
you work to live or live to work?’, only serves to heighten
the impression that work and life are somehow separate.
Of course we only have one life and the true hallmark of highly
effective people is their ability to deal with whole life activities,
seeing work, family, friends, learning etc as part of the one big
picture. In doing so they have adopted a holistic approach to preparing
and living life as a human being not human ‘doing’!
As with Captain McDonald’s attention to loading his cargo,
highly effective people ensure they create regular safe havens, ‘time
outs’ where then can replenish their ‘being’ so
that in the midst of their busy lives their ‘doing’ is
much calmer. So clearly the $64,000 question is what needs does
our ‘being’ have?
The following four areas, just as in the four locations on the
vessel Castle, are where we as human beings need to invest in ourselves:
