"There is no such thing as balance."

At an Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders seminar at Stanford, an Executive Vice President at Microsoft was giving a talk about her lessons for success.

In the middle of her talk, she said, "Oh, and there's no such thing as balance."

I could sense a quiet gasp among the young college-audience.

She continued, "If you need to see your children, go home. If you need to make more money, work harder. If you're stressed, take a break. It's that simple."

Looking at the reaction in the audience, I sensed that her words were somewhat provocative. And this makes sense given the way college students think. As Jon Stewart said in his Commencement Address:

College is something you complete. Life is something you experience.

This "no such thing as balance" concept also plays into my other principle:

Happiness isn't about getting to a place where "everything's fine."