Here is a technique that I find very helpful in reminding me to keep a work/life balance: You will have many responsibilities simultaneously in your life—like having to juggle several balls at once. Visualize that in one hand you hold a rubber ball and in the other hand you hold a beautiful, fragile, glass ball. The rubber ball represents your career, your work, and your volunteer activities. The glass ball represents your family, your friends, and your health.

What happens if you drop the rubber ball? It will bounce. Someone will pick it up for you or it will stay put until you are able to pick it up again. What happens if you drop the glass ball? If you're lucky, it will only crack. But it may smash into a million pieces. Either way, it will never be the same.

So, along with everything that you learn, there is something you should learn not to do. Don't let your justifiable concern about your career cause you to drop the precious ball that represents your family, your friends, and your health.

Remarks by Sandra Pianalto
President and Chief Executive Officer
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Ursuline College
Graduate Commencement 2004
Friday, May 21, 2004