Work v. Personal Life.
It's not simple. I have a tendency to overwork myself to the point where my work becomes ineffective. It is typically better for me to take a short break and start again thank to just keep pushing. If it were not for my awesome wife reminding me to stop...I'd work from 7am to midnight every day.
Sometimes you have to stop long enough to remember why you're working. It's great that I enjoy my work. But when my balance is off I become too one-dimensional. The interesting thing is that the imbalance ultimately hurts my business. Being too focused mitigates my creativity, makes me far less personable, and severely limits my social life.
If you look at that list you realize that each of those qualities are essential for operating a business:
Creativity - Essential for innovation.
Being Personable - Business is about personal connections.
Social Life - Meeting new people expands your vision and exposes you to people with talents and knowledge that could help you in your business life.
I'm not saying that you the only reason you take a break is to help your business. I just think it's cool that it ends up working that way.
Without finding that balance, you've got nothing worth working for.
A Note From the Author - Henrik Joreteg
This blog is a compilation of the lessons I've come across or learned the hard way as an entrepreneur. Stuff that I can look back on, in hopes of limiting how many times I have to relearn it. This is mainly read by myself and a couple of friends. But it's by no means exclusive, if you feel you can contribute, post away!
Thanks for stopping by.
- Henrik
Thanks for stopping by.
- Henrik
2 comments:
Balance is a fascinating idea for me. We preach it, we teach it, and we try to live it. But is it really something we should strive for?
With people that are balanced or what we call "differentiated" in the counseling world, very little would get done. We wouldn't have the big corporations, we wouldn't have big dreams realized.
Even our bodies are not designed to be in balance. If I remember histology, we die when our body reaches equilibrium or balance.
just a few thoughts.
isaac
Interesting observations.
It's true that often the truly unbalanced, single-minded people are the ones who manage to accomplish extraordinary things in their given fields.
I've often wondered what my life would look like if I picked one pursuit, cleared my life of distractions and devoted myself to completely mastering it (yes i know I'm a bit strange).
It may seem like anyone who decided to do something with that type of resolve could become extraordinary talented in that single pursuit. In the case of a "skill" such as playing and instrument or mastering the game of chess, I think that may be the case.
However, something else to consider, is that those types of simple (as in non-complex) skills are rarely the types of things in which you can find lasting fulfillment.
The pursuits that are more meaningful are typically far more complex and multi-faceted. If I, for example, decide to become the best parent possible and devote myself singularly to that pursuit what would that look like? What would I do to practice it? How could I possibly prepare for everything I'd encounter as a parent?
It requires a very varied, and complex skill set. In this case, lack of "balance" would hinder me from acquiring the variety of experiences necessary for that pursuit.
Ultimately, a complex pursuit requires balanced growth in a diverse skill-set. I think that's one reason that balance is so important.
Another reason is far less scientific. It's simply the concept of wanting to enjoy life as it happens. Obsessive dedication to a huge, life-long goal would probably mean many missed opportunities for joy, and sharing life with those you care about.
In some ways having an unbalanced obsession is selfish. We have people around us who want our love, attention and friendship that they willingly share with us. I feel like we owe it to them, and to ourselves to share ourselves with them.
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