The Decathalon

I heard an interesting story a few months back (not sure on the source).

Supposedly a guy entered a decathalon. He was a pretty good athlete, but not really the best at anything. In the 100m he was fast, but only came in 3rd. He wasn't great with the javelin, came in 7th. In fact, although he did fairly well on most events, he didn't win any of them.

When the last event was over, he was feeling pretty down on himself for not doing better. However, once the scores were tallied, this apparently mediocre athlete won the gold!

Why? Because in the decathalon, it's not the single event that matters, but the overall performance. That's true for life too.

Many extraordinary businessmen have extensive resumes and train-wreck marriages. Others have hundreds of Facebook friends but can't run half that many yards without collapsing. Still others have nice cars and neglected kids.

The key is balance.

This is the best counsel I've found so far for finding it:

"Most men do not set priorities to guide them in allocating their time and most men forget that the first priority should be to maintain their own spiritual and physical strength; then comes their family; then the Church and then their professions, and all need time."

- Harold B. Lee

I like the "all need time" part -- start with solid priorities, but be sure to allocate time to all.