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Get Out and Get a Life

Over 10 years ago now my then 13 year old daughter took me aside one day and told me quite sincerely that my social life was worse than hers and I really needed to do something about it. I was a sole parent looking after two teenage daughters and I worked full time at a job that had me on the road travelling hundreds of miles most days of the week.

There just wasn’t time for a social life and even if there had been I was 20 years out of the dating loop and had no idea where to start. Fortunately for me a beautiful lady almost fell into my arms and we rode off into the sunset.

But today that know-it-all daughter of mine would say exactly the same thing for both of us. We have worked long and hard for years now to get our business established and it really is reaching the point where we can take a day or two off now and again.

Fortunately we have reached this point together and we’re ready to enjoy those days off together. Instead of a quick walk on the beach in the morning before rushing back to work we can go out and look for lethargic whales, we can jump on a plane and fly down to Sydney to spend a weekend with our girls or we can just go for a drive and stop at a motel when the sun goes down.

But we have been lucky and we look back and see that now. There are many couples who have not been so lucky. They have put in the hard work but the strain of that work has been too much for them. Instead of surviving to enjoy the fruits of all that hard work they have fallen apart and gone their separate ways.

Working seven days a week for years on end places an incredible strain on relationships. Even if you are working together the strain can be too much for many people. And it is so important that you don’t do it.

We know that it’s hard not to work. We too have faced the times when the cash flow has dried up but the bills don’t stop coming. We too have thought that the only way to overcome the financial problems has been to work harder and longer and sometimes that is the way to survive.

But when you have overcome the immediate problems then you must take time just for yourself, your partner and your family. What is the point of working so hard to build a successful business if you can’t enjoy the results?

Your partner and your kids simply must come first and you must walk away from your business and spend time with your kids and with your partner. Don’t wait till you’re ready for a break because when that time arrives you might not have anyone left to spend time with.

Kids grow up so quickly and in a blink of any eye the baby that you held in your arms is now a strapping young man who now has no time for a father who had no time for him when he was young and needed you.

Partners grow weary of being left to deal with everything else while you deal with your business. They too need support from you and if they don’t get it they soon begin to wonder whether you really do love them or not.

Just as quickly as your kids grow up so your partner can change and the happy laughing girl that you married turns into a bitter and lonely woman that have left alone for too long while you built your business.

So please, for your sake, get out and get a life. Enjoy your kids, have fun with your wife. Put aside the cares of your business for at least a few hours every week and instead of growing your business grow your family and enjoy the immediate results.

Ignore them and your world will fall down around your ears and all that will be left of your family and your business is dust and ashes.

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