????2006年的一天，在哈佛商學院（Harvard Business School）開創了著名創業課程的霍華德·史蒂文森教授在哈佛校園中走路時突發嚴重心臟病。幸運的是，他倒下的地方附近就有一棟大樓備有心臟除顫器（整個哈佛校園只有兩棟建筑備有除顫器），而且恰好有一個人知道如何使用除顫器，還把除顫器拿到了他身旁。不僅如此，那一天正好有一輛郵政速遞車駛過附近，而且兩英里外就有一家非常好的醫院。于是，這位66歲的教授在鬼門關走了一遭又回來了。一位醫生說，“這種事發生的幾率只有百分之一”。

????后來，朋友埃里克·辛諾威到醫院看望他時，問他這一生中有過什么遺憾。除了摔倒時弄臟了最喜歡的運動衫，史蒂文森說，“一點（遺憾）也沒有”。作為咨詢公司Axcess Worldwide的創始人兼CEO，以及史蒂文森突發心臟病時的哈佛籌款人，這一事件讓辛諾威意識到他差點錯過了一個巨大的機會。多年以來，史蒂文森和辛諾威曾無數次暢談生活、事業、家庭和創業；如果不是2006年這一天史蒂文森從鬼門關轉了回來，辛諾威或許再也沒有機會感謝這位長者曾經給他的種種金玉良言，也不再會有機會把他的想法記錄下來，造福于人。

????這就是辛諾威（與美林·米德合著）的新書《霍華德的禮物》（Howard's Gift）的由來，發人深省。這就像是寫給MBA學生的《相約星期二》（Tuesdays With Morrie）。這本書的長處在于，它不像很多這一類的大部頭書那樣試圖灌輸過于簡單或淺顯易見的建議，而是通過深入的對話，探討真實職場問題和追求令人滿意事業的不同途徑，史蒂文森稱之為“一生的工作”。

平衡工作與生活有很多層面

????辛諾威寫道，史蒂文森對于“平衡工作與生活”這個套話很不滿意，認為它太過簡單化了。他將生活比作像是“走在奧運會賽場的平衡木上，手里拋著雞蛋、網球和尖刀。”他說，我們至少都有7種生活：家庭生活、社交生活、精神生活、肉體生活、物質生活、業余生活和職業生活。

????史蒂文森認為，我們大多數人都試圖在所有領域都獲得A+——這樣的追求固然好，但卻不可避免地會讓人耗盡精力。正如書中引用一位企業家的話稱：“每天早晨我醒來時，就會想今天我會讓誰失望。”生活是動態的，人們總是在不斷地作出抉擇，在7種生活中尋找妥協和平衡。史蒂文森說，關鍵是要經常在人生的不同階段，思考哪些生活具有更高的優先性，然后隨著境遇轉變，調整重點。

????要想知道在這7種生活中將重點放在哪里，必須要搞明白在人生的不同階段，什么對你是最重要的。有一次，辛諾威和史蒂文森談起了一位成功的企業家朋友，這位朋友已經賣掉了自己的公司，拿到了一大筆錢。他實現了工作、家庭和高爾夫運動的平衡，可以做任何他想做的事情——但他仍感到茫然若失。

????Howard Stevenson,a professor who started the now-legendary entrepreneurship program at the Harvard Business School, was walking through Harvard's campus one day when he suffered a massive heart attack. Luck had it that he fell to the ground near one of only two university buildings that had a defibrillator and that someone who knew how to use it just happened to be there to bring it to his side. Not only that, an EMS vehicle that day was driving nearby and an excellent hospital was only two miles away.?The 66-year old survived -- as one doctor put it:?"a one-out-of-100 chance."

????When a friend, Eric Sinoway, visited the professor in the hospital, he asked him whether he had regretted anything in his life. Besides ruining his favorite sports coat during his fall, Stevenson said "not a one." This made Sinoway, the founder and CEO of the consulting firm Axcess Worldwide and, at the time of Stevenson's heart attack, a fundraiser at Harvard, realize that he had almost missed a huge opportunity. Over the years, Stevenson and Sinoway had spent hours talking about life, careers, family, and entrepreneurship; if Stevenson hadn't made it on that fateful day in 2006, Sinoway would have missed a chance not only to thank the older man for all his sage advice but also to record his ideas so others could benefit.

????That was the genesis of?Howard's Gift, Sinoway's new, thought-provoking book (written with Merrill Meadow). Think of it as?Tuesdays With Morrie?for MBAs. The strength of this book is that it doesn't try to hit you over the head with over-simplified or obvious advice, like so many other tomes in this genre. Instead, you follow in-depth conversations that delve into real-life career issues and use them to subtly examine different ways to achieve a satisfying path -- pursuing what Stevenson calls your "life's work."

Adding a few additional layers to work-life balance

????Stevenson, writes Sinoway, scowls at the term "work-life balance," arguing that it's much too simplistic.?He likens one's life to "juggling an egg, a tennis ball and a knife while walking on a balance beam -- at the Olympics." He says we all struggle to live at least seven lives: the family self, the social self, the spiritual self, the physical self, the material self, the avocational self, and the career self.

????Most of us, Stevenson argues, try to get an A+ in each of these categories -- a noble pursuit, but one that inevitably leads to burnout. As one entrepreneur quoted in the book said, "I wake up every morning wondering who I'm going to disappoint today." Life is a dynamic process where one is constantly making choices and compromises among those seven selves. The trick, Stevenson says, is to constantly assess which groups take priority at different points of your life, and then shift the emphasis as your situation changes.

????To know where to place the emphasis among your seven selves, you have to figure out what's important to you at various stages of life. At one point, Sinoway tells Stevenson about a friend of his, a successful entrepreneur who had sold his company for a large sum of money. He had managed to lead a life where he balanced work, family, and his golf game, and was at a point where he could do anything he desired -- but he still?felt lost.