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Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness
July 28, 2008
Because of the enjoyment I get from this work, Succession Planning has provided a satisfying way of life as well as a means to a living for me and my family. This isn’t entirely true for some of our clients. Unfortunately, far too many business owners are movers and shakers in ways that come back to haunt them.
One of our newer clients laid out an all too familiar scene in telling me that “I love this business, but it’s been a tough master. My wife (former) and I worked very hard together early on, and we had a great life coming together for us. We had good kids. They were growing up well. We had money to give them what they wanted – music lessons, athletic camps, trips to all the right places, dreams of the best schools and bright futures for them. Gradually, I began giving them less of me and more “stuff” as the business continued to grow. Somehow, I let the business replace her and the kids. Losing them was like I’ve heard someone describe bankruptcy – slow at first and then all at once. I wonder how it ever got that crazy.”
Like an overeager defensive tackle, your business can jump offsides and eat away at personal and family time. The penalty for encroachment in this game can be far more expensive than five yards of turf. It can be years of your life. It can determine the seating chart at the Thanksgiving Dinner table.
How do you keep your business and personal lives supporting each other? Here are a few ways that we’ve suggested or learned about over the years. Look these over, talk about them with those close to you, and keep working as hard on family as you do on business.
- Work/life balance is difficult. You can’t go to everything, so work hard at attending the FIRST of everything. The first recital, the first ball game, track meet, etc.
- When your spouse and children talk, listen with the intent of understanding their entire message. Use all the communications skills we have talked about in prior posts.
- If you’re not clear what’s going on, use this word – A S K. It can be the key to shared meaning, shared understanding, and shared expectations. And, at least in the English language, it’s also an acronym:
Ask and you shall receive;
Seek and you shall find;
Knock and it will be opened.
4. Make sure you’ve got a handle on your personal value system. The more your actions match your values, the more satisfaction you will find in life.
In the next edition, It takes Discipline to Walk the Talk, we’ll talk more about personal and family values.There’s a strong connection between feeling in control of your life and walking the talk. We’ll get into how to make it easy on yourself.
Posted by Dan Schneider on July 28, 2008 | Comments (1)
