Balancing quiet focus time and go time

A reader recently asked me this to write about balance: “I’d like to read your takes on how to balance the tendency of slow living or the one-thing-at-a-time approach to life and staying current in the fast-paced world. Moreover, how to balance honoring decisions to slow down and also not fall into irrelevance, especially when you’re pursuing professional goals or passion projects you’d like to flourish.” I had a similar conversation with a friend who runs his own business. He told me, “Man, I’m so inconsistent.” He kept feeling that he should do more. His wife finally asked him to stop for a moment and look at his results so far this year. When he checked, he realized he was outperforming last year on all of his goals and targets. So why did he still feel behind? His perception had little connection to his actual progress. And I recognize this pattern in my own work too. When you’re ambitious, your mind keeps moving the finish line. Even when things are going well, you still hear the…