Photo by Xtrerant

Being honest to your self is the best policy and business practice.  You will be more successful.

Balancing the job and your life begins with setting priorities.  You can call the exercise simple strategic planning for yourself.  You will later attribute the quality time you have obtained to the day you took time to think and plan.   In today’s era of constant connection, communication usually can happen anytime and anywhere.  It is one of the reasons I vacation part of the year where the Internet and cell phone are not reliable.  I love working but it’s healthier and energizing to hang out around the bonfire my boys built, building a stone fort for the boys, they are camouflaging it, make Taco dinner with my youngest who hates vegetables but tonight ate his mixing of (salad, beans and tomatoes), played the card game Wizard with my spouse and older son; these countless hours passed but were quality memorable moments.  The way that I remind myself of the priorities is whether someone else could do the job and will the opportunity of this event with family arise again.  

When I was single and hated the dating scene or had that pressure when in a relationship to interact with new people it was easier to make work the focus.  From an interpersonal point of view it was easier to be married to work.  There was then the least amount of time spent on personal interaction.  It is funny to look back at how many people in the world are doing the same thing today.  I like to hear the excuses for calling home and canceling dinner with the spouse. Cancelling going to that concert which the person spent loads of money for and had wanted to attend for the last five years. 

It is all right to take risks and seize opportunities that take some extra time, but remember that time does not repeat itself, once it has past it’s gone.  Risk taking is an every day occurrence by us all.  Most of us ignore the fact, put the label on specific entrepreneur spirit and say that’s for the other person.  The insurance industry calculates risks for getting hurt at home, risk of death at what age, risk of disease, risk for driving a car, risk for work accidents, risks of being sued, etc, etc., etc.  So think about yourself, implement your strategic plan process with that entrepreneur spirit you have towards work and invest your time and money in your future.  Productivity will improve if you treat employees as an asset that needs to be nurtured.