I Quote

In the course of my life, there are quotes that inspire me.  I collect these quotes and look at them now and then.  They provide insights to various aspects of life and balance my exhilaration with my worry.  I share these quotes with you in the spirit of appreciation of how they help me find balance in my life.  Short and sweet, quotes say things as they are.  Sharp and stinging sometimes, that is how some things should be conveyed.  I also include one saying I have created.  Hopefully, it deserves to be quoted.  Enjoy.

Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too. – Robert Half

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation. – George Washington

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it. – Theodore Roosevelt

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character. – Albert Einstein

We must become the change we want to see in the world. – Mahatma Ghandi

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. – Henry Ford

To reach a port, we must sail – sail, not tie at anchor – sail, not drift. – Franklin Roosevelt

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. – Albert Schweitzer

In this life, we cannot always do great things. But we can do small things with great love. – Mother Teresa

Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those who we cannot resemble. – Samuel Johnson

To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self. – Joan Didion

The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self-respect things. – Joan Didion

Good friendships are fragile things and require as much care as any other fragile and precious things. – Randolph Bourne

A marriage is sustained not by marrying for what the person is but for what the person will become. – Undercover columnist

“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion.” – Theodore Hesburgh, President of the University of Notre Dame

“There’s nothing more demoralizing than a leader who can’t clearly articulate why we’re doing what we’re doing.” – James Kouzes and Barry Posner

“It is precisely when one privately knows that one has no substance that one spices up the delivery.” – Au

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Present in the present

“You are the best person for this role”.

If you hear this as a man, it’s probably based on your competence and experience. If you hear this as a woman, and if the role entails lots of traveling, relocation even, or it means long hours including weekends, chances are, you’re single, not in a relationship and give people the perception that you have time to burn. To you, the work life balance equation means work = life. Or, if you are in a relationship, have a spouse, kids or plans to have kids, you are prepared to make adjustments for the role.

If you fit those descriptions, the first being a female, and take on the role that requires you to have a permanent relationship with your computer/desktop and its furniture, then chances are, you will prove yourself to be the perfect fit. Because you thought it was given to you based on your competence and experience. It probably was, and you could well be the most competent one, or you intend to prove that you so well deserve that role. And you blend, into the role, into the workload, into the business travels, into the weekends in office, into being less of a friend to your friends, a daughter to your parents, a parent to your pet, but more into a workaholic.

And then along the way, you master the art of justification. You justify your absence, you justify the lack of time for exercise or leisure, you justify that you need to do what you’re doing now as you’re working towards the life you want, to have the freedom of time for people who care for you.

You justify that you need to be absent from the present so you can be present in the future.

It sounds like you’re actually saying that you can’t have a relationship (with anything or anyone) now so that you can have a relationship (with something or someone) in future. Really ? seriously, do you believe that or you told yourself that so often that you think you believe that? Think back again how you got the role. Then think about who’s out there, not in your super indispensable role, but spending time with people who matter to them, having real relationships, and they must be grateful to you for your absence in the present that allows them to be present in the present. If time is the key variable in this fair and equal dimension that we live in, then the work life balance equation is work = life + time(to be present in the present). Is that variable present or absent in your equation?