BALANCING ACT: BLENDING LIFE, WORK, AND RELATIONSHIPS® A free monthly newsletter about balancing life, work, and relationships based on the books and popular workshops conducted by Alan Weiss, Ph.D.

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Essays

Musings

Developmental Stuff

ORTIYKMWOYBNTO

Balancing Act^®: The Newsletter

(No. 315, October 2025)

BALANCING ACT: BLENDING LIFE, WORK, AND RELATIONSHIPS®

A free monthly newsletter about balancing life, work, and relationships based on the books and popular workshops conducted by Alan Weiss, Ph.D. Past copies are archived on our web site: http://www.summitconsulting.com

ISSN 1934-3116

Balancing Act^® is our registered trademark. You are encouraged to share the contents with others with appropriate attribution. Please use the ^® whenever the phrase “Balancing Act” is used in connection with this newsletter or our workshops.

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Balancing Act^® is in four sections:

Essays
Musings
Developmental Stuff
ORTIYKMWOYBNT-O Department

Follow me on X. Every day I provide 3-5 brief, pithy pieces of advice for growth.

Join the thousands who read these “quick hits” every morning. Over 9,500 followers! Why aren’t you among them? AND FIND ME ON Facebook.

Listen to my free Podcast Series on Apple Podcasts or on ContrarianConsulting.com: Alan Weiss’s The Uncomfortable Truth^®. And watch A Minute with Alan^® daily on all social media and my blog.

The Cobbler

During a trip, one of the screws holding the clasping mechanism on my briefcase became lose. I couldn’t figure out what to do with it, and if the entire assembly came off I’d have to carry this thing under my arm! When I returned, I visited the town cobbler (shoemaker). He took a look, found a small, odd tool amidst his chaos, and tightened the screw somehow. When I offered to pay, he said not to worry, it only took a minute. But I put payment on the counter and told him he saved me possibly hours of trouble and possible pain. It’s never about time, it’s about value.

Trees

We’ve planted evergreens over the years around our property for both aesthetics and privacy reasons. Some are now 50 feet tall, some only 10. They grew rapidly, through all kinds of weather and conditions. We tended them carefully when planted, but once well rooted they have taken care of themselves. Which is why it’s easier to raise trees than kids.

Recognition

We’re often astounded that we see someone we know in an unexpected place—on a plane, in a theater, in Venice. “What are you doing here?!” we shriek. Truth be told: This happens more often than we think but we never do see the other person. The problem is that we don’t look around. We’re buried in our tablet, or smart phone, or our own thoughts. Midway across the Atlantic, returning from Italy, my wife suddenly said, “There’s Larry Peters over there!” We had boarded the plane and been flying for about five hours. There were only 14 seats in first class, and Larry weighed well over 300 pounds.

Courtesy

There is a famous story about two hotels in Germany (I was told this by German clients) across the street from each other. One had a sign on the desk that said “There are no refunds if you choose not to have breakfast.” The other had a sign that said “We are proud to offer a free breakfast.”

Intelligence for Artificial Intelligence

AI is a tool, not a threat. Since the Industrial Revolution of 1760 (I quickly used AI for the exact year just now), through economic crises, wars, natural disasters, the digital revolution, Y2K, and now AI, there have been fears and stressors about job losses, sometimes accompanied by the world being taken over by evil technology, from the robots of the 1950s to the sinister software of today.

Jobs will be displaced. I’m confident, for example, that AI will be far more effective than fatigued, bored, and underpaid air traffic controllers—when we have a couple of supervisors in each shift replacing dozens on workers in control towers. But that’s merely business and technological evolution, survival of the fittest (whether man or machine).

It’s not the end of the world. But if your job is in, say, actuarial work for Prudential, or scheduling for Federal Express, or customer call centers for JPMorganChase, I’d be thinking about reskilling, or further education, or entrepreneurialism.

That shift may be far easier than you currently believe. Higher tech is already requiring higher touch. (Naisbitt was right in Megatrends with “high tech/high touch” in 1984, one of the few truly prescient books about the future.) More sophisticated repair people, who make more money, are needed for everything from cars to alarm systems. When we chose our last car, we favored a racing green on a computer configurator, but the “brand representative” (not “salesperson”) showed us that the color actually looked black in sunlight, which changed our opinion. Your pharmacist won’t be an automaton, discussing the best over-the-counter medications. High schools have revived “shop” classes teaching young men and women how to weld, for example, resulting in $70,000 jobs fresh out of senior year.

It would be harder for me to replace our plumber, electrician, and yard crew than it is my personal physician.

Take control. It’s not the end of the world, it’s opportunity if we use advanced technology as a tool and not see it as an oppressor. But that demands the abandonment of “entitlement thinking” and “safety nets” and a new focus on self-esteem, worth, and accountability. Of course, there will always be those who want to be “oppressed” by technology because it’s an easier role than is assuming personal responsibility for one’s life.

Unfortunately, if Chicken Little ran for public office today, he’d probably get 40 percent of the popular vote.

Development Opportunities

The Fishbowl

Fishbowl: In January I’ll be starting a year-long, monthly, “live” coaching session whereby one member of the group will be coached by me for 45 minutes on a current issue of theirs, we’ll deconstruct what happened, and then have 45 minutes of Q&A. This is a variation of the very popular “fishbowl” technique I ran a few years ago.

You may volunteer to be the person coached or simply watch. You needn’t attend every session and I will provide video to everyone afterwards along with written commentary. This should build your coaching prowess considerably.

This will be $500 for the year and I’m offering it to you, here, first, because I’ll obviously have limited participation. My offer to you is $400. (An hour of my “situational coaching” on my site is $2,500, so this is a hell of a deal if you choose to be coached or even just observe.)

You can register here: https://alanweiss.com/store/quick-pay/

I’ll cut off registration in December, but if you wait and we’re filled, I can only put you on a waiting list. If for any reason I don’t run it, you’ll receive a full refund prior to the end of this year.

The Proof Behind Social Proof

Has anyone ever asked you, “Give me an example of your point?” and you suddenly forgot how to speak? Or have you said, “Let me give you an example…,” and then have immediately gone into brain freeze without any ice cream? “Social Proof” comprises pragmatic examples that others can readily relate to which reinforce your point instantly.

When you “open the hood” on social proof, beneath is actually a psychological dynamic which creates normative pressure assuring that the actions of others are appropriate and should be imitated. A desire to “fit in” is created.

Join me for 90 minutes and fill your conversations, narrative, and collateral with social proof that will build your brand and fill your bank account. People ask what research I invest in for my success. I don’t. Then they ask what my investigative habits are. I don’t have any. “So what DO you do?” they ask.

I look around.

Learn how to look around to dominate conversations and close business: October 14, 2025. 10:30 to noon, US eastern time. Video and Zoom notes included. Fee: $350 until and including Sept. 30, $500 thereafter. https://alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/the-proof-behind-social-proof/

BOOK SPRINT

Begins Nov. 3rd, 60-minute weekly call to create a completed, professional book proposal in the following 60 days.

I have an 80%+ record placing these books with publishers for the last five years. I will introduce the proposal to agents and publishers (and so can you) and provide an additional 30 days of support for the book. The fee is only $4,500. Stop procrastinating and produce your first (or next) book, which is how I've attracted well over 90% of my business over the years. Register here and I'll send the simple prep work: https://alanweiss.com/store/quick-pay/

AI: Alan Intelligence™

My unique AI resource which will direct you to the relevant aspects of my entire body of work to answer your “real time” questions about proposals, value based fees, conceptual agreement, avoiding “ghosting,” and thousands of other issues with text, audio, and video resources, all of which you can download. Please go here to gain lifelong, constantly growing access to my work, including referral to specific pages in my books which you can access online: https://alanweiss.com/ai-alan-intelligence/ If you decide at any time to engage in one of my two elite, personal coaching relationships, I'll deduct the full fee you've paid for this resource.

Zoom Workshops 2025:

2025: Join me October 7th for our next installment. If you can’t attend “live” you’ll still receive the video and the AI Companion transcript.

https://alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/zoom-workshops-2025/

October 7: Self-Awareness and Self-Honesty. This is the psychological issue of our times.

LEARN MORE

Million Dollar Consulting® Global Online Program

Million Dollar Consulting^® for the World

I’ve provided 14 modules with videos from me, from your colleagues globally, slides, and text. They include everything from launch to self-esteem, proposals to fees, closing business to creating a brand. No upsells! It’s only $115. What do you think about a 10,000:1 ROI? We have over 500 people from 47 countries. https://milliondollarconsultingcourse.com

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Million Dollar Consulting® Global Online Program ADVANCED

Million Dollar Consulting^® for the World ADVANCED

The new program contains over 60 videos and has 15 modules focusing on what to do in the buyer’s office, overcoming crises, financial planning, and much, much more. https://alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/advanced-global-learning-program/

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Million Dollar Consulting® Global Online Program GRADUATE

New: Million Dollar Consulting^® for the World Graduate

Another 12 modules with videos by me and your peers on contemporary issues such as Raising Fees Aggressively, How to Be Consistently Interviewed, Maximizing Happiness, and Managing Multiple projects. Join the people from 57 countries who are availing themselves of this inexpensive way to dramatically grow their businesses in any economic times. How does 100:1 ROI sound? https://milliondollarconsultingcourse.com/graduate-learning-program/

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I'm an Old Cowhand...

I found some welts and red streaks on my leg which my wife and I agreed were poison ivy. There’s no quick cure for it, but hydrocortisone is supposed to help. My wife warned me it could take weeks. I told her that was silly, and I applied huge amounts of the cream, and three days later I called her into the bathroom to show her the welts and redness had disappeared, smugly telling her that I knew what I was doing.

“You’re looking at the wrong leg,” she pointed out. That’s your right leg, but it’s still down there on your left.”