This weekend was a little overwhelming after the past week. I was off kilter. My routine was changed for a few reasons. First, my business partner was on vacation, so time that I normally would have been on a video conference with him, was time I was forced to figure out what to do. Second, I took my second shot for Covid, and I spent the next day trying to find my energy. It was gone! The challenge was the change in my routines. I went from a wonderfully comfortable routine, to trying to figure out how best to spend my time.
As we start hybrid models of work from home and work in the office, it brings up the challenges of work/life balance. It is not ever a balance, in terms of hours of a day or even how we think. We don’t break our time out in eight-hour increments of work, personal time, and sleep. Some think that time is the metric for balance. I believe balance is driven by focus. Are you truly in the moment with the person you are with?
I once sat down and figured out that when my son was 14 years old, I had missed half of his life, due to travel. It was probably more. My focus was always on business. Was I reaching my targets? Was I hiring the right team? Did we have the right strategy? When I was watching his ballgames, I was still thinking of business. The decision to take a lesser role, with little travel, was forced on me. But I could accept it because it benefited my ability to spend more time with my kids. Unfortunately, they were older, and into social settings with friends, not dad. I have a great relationship with my kids, and they have learned from my mistakes. I love the way they focus on their children. I love their balance.
It brings me back to balance in business. Anytime anything is out of balance, issues can start. If your sales team is stronger than your operations team, issues occur. If supply is out of balance with demand, it creates other issues. If cash flow is not in balance with cash output, businesses don’t stay open awfully long. Balance is critical. How do you balance?
When we focus on business, we work hard. When I focus on my family, I try to work equally hard. It comes from the experiences I had with my kids, and I’m hopeful it sets a strong example for them. The challenge is to stay in balance intuitively. Today it has to be intentional.