12. Well-Rounded

"Wanted, a man who is symmetrical, and not one-sided in his development, who has not sent all the energies of his being into one narrow specialty and allowed all the other branches of his life to wither and die." Orison Swett Marden, Pushing to the front, 1911 In this episode we cover the importance of being 'Well-Rounded' In the speed of modern life things can get out of whack very quickly. We've all seen men that put all their faith in developing just one element of their life. They become gym junkies thinking that this will lead to their happiness, they hide away and meditate forever removing themselves from society and thinking that will be their saviour, they become mental giants, studying and learning and being the smartest person in the room or they become social animals always out and about. This one-dimensional focus often leads to a hyper-competitiveness at being the best in those areas. But competing for what reason? To what end goal? All of us has spent certain periods investing heavily in one element to the detriment of others. And that is OK. This is how we grow naturally but a well-rounded man does not let this prevail. He knows the true cost. Eventually the lack of balance makes us start to feel 'empty' like 'something is missing' and that things are out of balance. In these times we are often more 'reactive', short tempered, emotionally up and down like a yo-yo, and disconnected from those around us. We've simply put all our eggs in one basket for too long.