Consider you're on an airplane flying to some remote island far away.  You're comfortably seated in a large leather seat in first class, stretched out with your shoes off, a good drink and a friendly passenger next to you.  You can't wait to get to the island and have a couple days of much needed relaxation.  But then, minutes after you pass the "point of no return" the pilot comes on the PA and announces in a somber and scared voice that there is a significant fuel leak.  "Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like we might have a problem reaching our final destination.  It may be necessary to make a water landing.  Please prepare yourselves..."

You pull out your cell phone and realize you have service, thanks to the plane's satelitte communications systems.  Your first call goes to...

Who?

What if you knew your time was almost up?  Would you call your stock broker (ugh...that's bad news anyway).  Would you call your personal banker or your favorite car dealer?  Would you call your clients and apologize for not being able to finish their loan or close on the home of their dreams?  Who would you spend your last few minutes with?

Hopefully the answers to these questions will yield some perspective.  It's interesting to see how we treat others in our day to day lives...and how we treat our family and friends.  I know I've been guilty of giving 110% to my clients and saving only a few leftovers for my family.  At the end of a long day, who gets the short end of the stick?  Usually the people we love the most.  It is meaningful to me, then, to realize and reinforce in my mind regularly that BALANCE is critical.  Here's what balance means to me and my business coaching firm:

I have a balanced approach to life, remembering that my spiritual, social, physical and family aspects are just as important as my financial and intellectual. I complete my work and my most important tasks first, so I can have quality time to myself, with my family and also to renew.

Imagine the time and attention we could share with our loved ones if we perfected the skill of completing the most important work tasks FIRST instead of allowing ourselves to get sidetracked with the less important but easy-to-complete tasks.  As Brian Tracy recommends..."eat that frog for breakfast"...and free up more time for the more important things.

Some of our other Points of Culture (the ones I've covered so far):

Committment; Ownership; Integrity; Excellence; Success; Education; Team Work