Note: Here, breakdown means a list of its separate parts, not a failure or a crisis

Like adjusting the temperature knob in a car between hot and cold, the Balance Challenge visual dial can be a tool we use to help us make decisions when faced with choices.

All Balance Challenges share a few important features. Thinking about a car thermostat dial may help us understand these better. Below is an explanation of these features:

Made up of Two Opposites

Hot and cold are opposites. Similarly, all Balance Challenges are made up of two opposites. They are opposing approaches to a problem. In Take it Easy, Take it Seriously, the opposites are relaxing and working hard.

Both Approaches are Positive

On a car thermostat, both hot and cold are good options to have. And in Balance Challenges, each side has its positive elements. In Take it Easy, Take it Seriously, both approaches can be good things. Working hard is important in many contexts; relaxing is important to avoid burnout.

Either Extreme is Negative

You don’t want to always make your car as sweltering as a sweat lodge, nor as frigid as a meat locker. Rather, you want to find the sweet spot where you and your passengers are comfortable. When either side is taken to the extreme, it can have a negative impact.

In Balance Challenges, there are also dangers when either approach is taken too far. In Take it Easy, Take it Seriously, too much working hard can lead to stress and burnout. Similarly, too much relaxing can mean we shirk responsibilities that other people may be relying on us for.

The Middle isn’t the Mission

Your car doesn’t give you only two options: 100% hot or 100% cold. And it’s not often that you’re most comfortable when you set the dial to the exact middle between the two extremes. We often nudge the dial a little towards the cold side, and then later a little more back warmer as we cool down.

And social decision making is similarly complex. We’re not aiming for a precise balance in between those two approaches. As we learn in Take it Easy, Take it Seriously, we’re not looking for 50% work and 50% rest. There’s a lot more nuance in our decision-making. Sometimes we have to crank the dial to hard work when we have important tasks or deadlines. And other times, we adjust the dial to more relaxation when we have the time and space, and we need to unwind. That’s still striking a balance.

So when do we crank it up and when do we dial it down? Well, that leads us to…

Context is Everything

Autism researcher and educator Peter Vermeulen defines “context” as:

everything in a certain situation (including your knowledge & in the surroundings) that reveals and influences the meaning of something (which can be an object, a behavior, a word)

[Vermeulen, Autism as Context Blindness]

To help us decide which way to turn the dial, we need to consider the details of the situation, or the context. For example, it often helps to think:

• Whom are we with, and what’s our relationship to them?
• What is the setting we’re in, and what does that say about what’s expected of us?
• What just happened recently, and how does that influence what action would be best now?
• And more…

Using elements of the context can help determine what side of the balance to lean more toward. If it’s the weekend and my chores are done, maybe I can dial up the relaxation. But if it’s the weekend and there is a pile of dishes in the sink, unpaid bills on the table, and a project coming up next week… I probably have to crank up the hard work before I sit down at my video game!

Balance is a Challenge

Finding the sweet spot between two opposing options is tricky. It requires judgement and evaluation and studying of the nuance. Because there’s no universally correct answer to the question, “What should I do?”

Determining how best to act in a given situation is complex. Hopefully Balance Challenge can help be a tool to help you make decisions you’re happy with.

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Do find the Balance Challenge useful? Do you have questions? Let me know what you think in the comments!

—Aaron