Someone asked me the other day if my life was balanced. I tend to think of this as a trick question, because if you answer in the affirmative, you're not believed, and if you answer in the negative, you are invariably pitied. So I used the common avoidance tactic of answering the question with a question: 'What is a balanced life?'
The answer for most of us post-industrialists surely is a happy mix of focus on family, career and personal finances - enough risk to gain some returns, but not too much to keep you up at night.
The more pertinent question, therefore, is how do we achieve this so-called balanced life? While my life might be as lopsided as the next person's, I have learned a thing or two about what it takes to 'have it all' from interviewing some of the most successful people in business.
Focus is key
I once asked Jan Leschly, the ex-chief executive of SmithKline Beecham, now GlaxoSmithKline, what helped him succeed. A former world-ranked professional tennis player, Mr Leschly said that all the attributes he needed to succeed as chief executive officer he learned while battling his opponent on the court. The most important was focus.
'Tennis puts you in a situation where you have to be totally focused and concentrate for five, 10 seconds,' he said. 'Then you have to be totally relaxed for 20 seconds.' On, off, on, off. He credited this ability to home in on one task at a time as the reason why, despite his incredibly hectic life, he managed to remain a fairly laid-back kind of guy.