Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Halves, doubles, triples, and to infinity and beyond: the math doesn’t always have to math
I can’t believe it’s the last day of April—2025 is already *one-third* over.
Realizations like this always seem to nudge me to evaluate how I’m engaging with my time. I ask myself whether I am being intentional enough in my words and actions, whether I am doing enough of what I want to be doing and what I enjoy doing, whether I’m learning as I go, and thinking about what comes next.
These words come to mind:
One thing the COVID pandemic reinforced is that our lives are our lives—there’s no clear and distinct separation between our personal and professional lives, between who we are at home and at work.
So while this quote may feel personal, and maybe even intensely or intimately so, there’s broad applicability to our business selves and our business lives, namely when it comes to:
Efficiency and focus. “Eat half” when applied to business means doing fewer things, better—focusing on highest-impact priorities and not just keeping busy.
Sustainable productivity. Encourage teams to “walk double” to build stamina, focus on sustainable effort, and pace themselves accordingly to avoid burnout.
Mental and emotional health. Joy (“laugh triple”) fuels connection, innovation, collaboration, and retention.
Compassionate leadership. “Love without measure” translates to empathy and emotional intelligence in leadership; trust drives results just as much as strategy does.
Whether we’re leading a team or leading our own lives, steady practices—like moving more, laughing often, and loving without measure—lay the foundation for lasting impact.
Businesses that focus on sustainable pacing, genuine connection, and empathetic leadership consistently outperform those that chase only speed and output. Research shows that organizations that emphasize well-being and demonstrate human-centered leadership achieve stronger innovation, better retention, and higher profitability over time (Gallup, 2023; Deloitte, 2024).
What we cultivate day by day shapes what we harvest over time.
Success isn’t a single moment of brilliance or effort—it’s the result of deliberate, everyday actions that accumulate quietly and powerfully over time. The simple formula in the proverb reminds us that consistent habits, not one-off heroics, are what truly move us forward.
Sometimes the simplest ingredients—like the ones in this week’s quote—are the keys to real success. This week’s song captures the spirit of the proverb perfectly and celebrates shedding unnecessary complexity to find real fulfillment—a principle that applies just as much to living a happy and fulfilling life as it does to building a resilient career and business.
Thriving—not just surviving—depends on how we pace ourselves, find joy, and stay connected, even at work.
It’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind, but reminders like this ask us to consider: Are we living in a way that sustains and nourishes us—in work, and beyond?
How are you pacing your work and your life as we move deeper into 2025?
I hope you’re enjoying it!
If you want to explore what these ideas mean to and for you, I’ve prepared this discussion guide. You don’t have to answer every question—pick what resonates, leave what doesn’t, and come back anytime if you want to revisit or dig deeper. (The guide has been designed for individual, team, or whole organization use depending on what you’re trying to achieve.)
