Is it necessary to balance the energy centers before putting the mind to work?

[Diana]

If one wants to be "perfectly" balanced before beginning their work, you will never get anything done.

If one wants to be "minimally" balanced before beginning their work, then it will take forever since that is the sign of an adept.

My view is to do your best to balance anything which sticks out, or is holding you back, or making you feel uneasy or negative. Then do some work. Rinse and repeat.

I agree with this.

There seems to be a common view that we can somehow learn all we need to be able to do something and then we should just be able to get up and do it. Maybe it is because doctors and lawyers and engineers all are forced to go thru so much school before getting any practical experience. But most will tell you they learned more on the first year on the job than the last 5 years of school.

I was educated in "advertising art," and I would say I learned 90% of what I know working as a freelance illustrator, about advertising in general and about illustration. There must be time for experience and action, not just theory and thinking.