The business principle I’ve found to be the most common (and least useful) is the desire for “work/life balance”.
The desire for balance is dangerous. Who ever said that being “in balance” was a good thing anyways?
Think about it…
The most successful achievers in life were certainly not in balance. Steve Jobs, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Elon Musk… you think their life is balanced? Even a little?
No, they are completely obsessed with their craft. With winning. Power. Domination.
You think Elon Musk would be a good buddy? That he’d call you up and check on how your dog is doing or house sit while you’re away? You think he’d help your parents move into their new house? Think he volunteers at the soup kitchen?
I truly believe that Kobe would dunk on my 7 year old, Ben, if it meant getting 1 step closer to another championship.
The way I see it there are 5 areas in life – Family, Finances, Faith, Fitness, and Friendships.
I used to chase balance in all those areas at the same time which only led to disappointment. It was when I gave up trying to excel in every area I really started to thrive.
A few years back I took my health more seriously and hired a coach. I became completely obsessed with fitness. I worked out 90 minutes a day. I measured every ounce of food and ate at specified intervals. I documented every workout, every calorie.
I thought if I could handle my fitness I could be a better father, husband, employee.
In reality, I was too tired to play with the kids as much, I worked out all the time, and everything suffered as a result. While I did get in the best shape of my life I definitely wasn’t the most fun to be around.
I was completely out of balance but aligned with my priorities in that season.
When we had our first son, Jacob, everything was completely out of balance while we adjusted to life as new parents. I didn’t work as hard, see my friends as much, or workout as much for that moment when family was the priority.
When I started the marketing agency in February 2017 it was completely out balance while I got that off the ground. The other areas of life were unbalanced while I got our finances in order.
If you get a negative health diagnosis all other things take a backseat to you getting back on your feet.
Make sense?
Action steps:
One – stop putting so much pressure on yourself to strike the perfect balance. It’s a myth not worth chasing. Give yourself a break.
Two – be fully present. When you’re at dinner with your family, be at dinner with your family (no phone, no work, etc). When you’re at a networking event, be fully at that event. The trouble comes when you’re on Slack at the gym, or texting a client during dinner, or worrying about stuff at home when you should be fully present elsewhere.
Release the desire to be balanced and focus on being fully present.
-Cody
P.S. This was taken from Ep. 056 of the Cody Builds a Business Podcast which you can find here.