The equinox and the art of motorcycle maintenance: what does balance mean to you?

The spring equinox passed last week, and I seem to have heard more about it this year than ever before. For many years I have been acutely aware of the solstices, which represent the extremes of light and dark through the year, and I am wondering whether there is genuinely more discussion about finding equilibrium right now, or if I am simply paying more attention to the concept of balance.

Many of us strive for a healthy life-work balance, and ideally there should be more life than work; there is much advice around as to how to achieve this balance but ultimately, it looks different for each person and also probably changes over time. As I reflected on what balance actually looks like in the day-to-day running of a creative enterprise, my mind wandered back to a book I used to use in my A-level Music composition lessons: Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I know this sounds a bit strange, but stay with me…

Revisiting it recently, I realised that the philosophy I once used to help students balance musical creativity with structural discipline applies perfectly to what I do now as a business operations partner.

The romantic and the rational

At the heart of Pirsig’s book is the tension between two ways of looking at the world: the romantic and the classical. The romantic viewpoint is rooted in the moment, in aesthetics, intuition, and creativity. The classical viewpoint focuses on the underlying mechanics, the structure, and how things actually work. Pirsig argued that a true, high quality of life is found not by choosing one over the other, but by marrying the two.

I was reminded of this during a recent conversation with the founder of a large organisation. We were discussing the constant interplay between systems and people within an organisation and we realised that when human relationships are incredibly strong, people will readily forgive clunky, inefficient processes. Conversely, having seamless, reliable systems in place can help bridge the gap when relationships are strained or need a little work.

However, you cannot rely entirely on goodwill and creative energy alone to sustain a scaling business - you also need the underlying mechanics. When you combine the people and the creative ideas with solid operational systems, you are more likely to achieve what Pirsig would call "quality”.

Beware the "gumption traps"

One of my favourite concepts from the book is the idea of "gumption traps”. These are events, mindsets, or external frustrations that cause people to lose their enthusiasm and, consequently, their momentum and so projects end up abandoned or not started in the first place.

For creative founders, poor administrative systems are the ultimate gumption trap. Staring at a blank screen trying to remember what to post on social media, manually typing out the same onboarding email for the fiftieth time, or losing track of a warm lead because you don't have a CRM: these things can drain your creative gumption faster than anything else.

Unfortunately, the modern solution to this often creates another trap. In the book, Pirsig notes that simply buying a shiny new motorcycle and hoping for the best (thus avoiding the work of maintaining your current one) is a flawed strategy. In the business world, this looks like subscribing to endless new platforms and apps, hoping one of them will magically fix the chaos. But buying a new tool without understanding how it fits into the bigger picture - or without implementing it properly - is not a long-term strategy. It just adds to the noise.

Life is maintenance

Pirsig teaches us that life is maintenance. We must pay attention and adjust. Good systems are not meant to be rigid prisons; they allow for 'play' and movement, but they still require us to pay attention to the changing conditions around us.

The changing of the seasons is a perfect reminder of this need to adjust. I launched my business around the autumn equinox last year. Since then, I have passed several milestones of which I am incredibly proud: hitting ambitious turnover targets, steadily growing my client numbers, achieving an enquiry conversion rate that I never thought possible, and even reaching the point where I needed to engage an associate to help manage the workload. I have had to continually adjust and have reached the point where, within a few short months, I am having to make decisions that I had only hoped to need to make within years.

I do believe, though, that the best measure of my business's quality is the value which I bring to my clients.

I absolutely love helping creative founders reclaim their gumption. Rather than just handing them a new piece of software, I focus on optimising what they already have and integrating systems that create breathing room. Recently, this has looked like crafting warm, automated email campaigns that allow my clients to step away from their inboxes, building bespoke Airtable CRMs that capture their exact needs, maximising Google Workspace features so they can drastically reduce their manual input, integrating and automating systems to save time and reduce errors, and developing plug-and-play social media templates so they can convey their brand voice consistently without hitting a wall of frustration. 

Finding your equilibrium

Balance is not a static achievement; it is an ongoing practice of maintenance. It is the careful, deliberate blending of your creativity with supportive systems.

If your business is feeling heavy, or if you feel surrounded by gumption traps that are draining your enthusiasm, it might be time to look at your mechanics.

I can help you build the structure you need to go with the flow and find your equilibrium. Please book a discovery call with me to discuss how we can thoughtfully maintain and cultivate your operations for the months ahead.