"Imagine life as a game in which you juggle several balls. You call them work, family, health, friends, and soul. And you keep all of them in the air. You'll soon discover that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls — family, health, friends, and your soul — are made of glass. If you drop any of them, it will be irrevocably scuffed, cracked, damaged, or even shattered. They'll never be the same. You have to understand this and strive for balance in your life."
The speech about the 5 balls and life belongs to former Coca-Cola CEO Brian Dyson, who ran the company between 1986 and 1991. It turns out to be one of the most-shared inspirational and motivational speeches online. It is compared with the famous speech by Apple founder Steve Jobs at Stanford University. Brian Dyson examines life's priorities using the metaphor of juggling 5 balls. He calls the balls work, family, friends, health, and soul.
Brian Dyson's words have become so well known that many versions are circulating online: some of them are aimed at making his already inspiring original speech even more inspiring. Some claim Dyson's address is one of the most famous short speeches in history; others label Dyson's five-ball speech as a 30-second talk. Recently, versions have also been circulating online claiming this is a 60-second speech by Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
None of that is actually true. Here's the real story: Brian Dyson did deliver the speech about life, friendship, love, family, and spirit during the 172nd commencement at Georgia Tech on September 6, 1991.
But the speech turns out to be neither short nor only 30 seconds long. The metaphor of life's 5 balls is the closing portion of a full commencement address running 1,634 words. You can read it in the Georgia Tech newspaper archive.
The original full version of the speech that has inspired millions.
Brian Dyson, photo: Wikipedia