Strike a Balance. Don’t Make Your Business Your Life.

Fail here and the other stuff doesn't really matter.

I’m big on my business, but I’m so much bigger on spending time with my family (been married 34+ years), working at my church, enjoying hobbies like golf and working out. My wife and I enjoy eating and drinking well, too. These are the things that give me true joy and happiness.

Now if my business is struggling, the job and happiness takes a hit. The stress this creates gets in the way. Of course it does. But let me be clear. My life comes ahead of my business.

It's easy to lose this perspective. I'm in year 6 of my business and my first few years were stressful. It felt like I was flying a plane a few inches above the treeline with a chance I'd be hitting something any time. All I did was work. I was making very slow progress and move ahead and I decided to "suck it up" and make this business happen.

It did take a toll on my life. I felt like I was always tired even after a good night's sleep. My marriage and relationship with my wife suffered. I wasn't happy. I felt all beat up. Those are the tolls a business will take out on you. I don't know if I could have done it any other way.

At one point I did have to ask myself, "What is it you really want and is this it?" Around 3 years back, I decided to make some changes. Even though I didn't have the time, I started back my involvement at church. I joined the prison ministry. I started working out more consistently. I made it a priority to build a team around me that I could offload work and responsibilities to.

Am I there yet? Not really. Am I happier now? Absolutely. Do I have plans to make myself less and less critical in the day-to-day of my business. A big "yes" to that.

Make sure you find your balance. I have the luxury of having grown kids so I don't have to spend much time with them. Don't short them. That can have some really big repercussions and you can't fix that damage easily. If you don't find that balance, the only thing you may have in your life is your business and that will be surrounded by a minefield of trouble everywhere else.

That's probably not what you want so make the necessary changes.