The Challenge of Work-Life Balance and Why You Should Always Make Time for Cake

I’ve worked in the hotel business for more than 60 years and I’ve been passionate about it from day one. While many other professionals enjoy a round of golf or a trip to a professional football game every now and then, I honestly would rather visit hotels around the world. I love this business.

That said, I can’t stress enough the importance of work-life balance or at least some sort of time management. I learned this lesson myself, the hard way. Years ago, my son David was asked by his elementary school teacher to draw a picture of his father at work and at play. Without missing a beat, he completed the assignment. One picture depicted me in a suit and tie, sitting at a large desk with a pen in my hand. In the second picture, I’m at home dressed in a sweater, seated at a small desk with a pen in my hand. Wow.

Looking back, I certainly worked long hours and I traveled extensively. The business demanded it. But today, at 87 years old, I can assure you that nothing is more important in life than family.

As I shared in Dale Van Atta’s new biography “Bill Marriott: Success is Never Final,” life has taught me how to prioritize and make time for what really matters. Even if I have hours of paperwork to read at night, I’ve learned it can wait – especially if my wife has baked banana cake. Below is an excerpt from the biography about that life lesson.

From Chapter 9

“Being a father and running a major corporation in his thirties was a serious challenge, and it required sacrifice and scheduling. If he was in town, Bill was always home for breakfast and dinner. Saturdays were the children’s days. He took them to see the ships and the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis or to watch boat races on the Potomac River.”

The chapter continues, “After dinner, Bill would retire to his den to work, but he had an open-door policy for the kids. It was in that den that they received some of their most treasured encouragement and counsel. “He made us feel like we were the most important people in his life,” Debbie said [Bill Marriott’s daughter].

[Debbie] remembered only one fight her parents had. “It was over a piece of banana cake. I was eight. Ten hours a day he’d work, and then bring four or five hours of paperwork home. He was so busy that night he wouldn’t come back to the table for dessert. Mom was upset. She got her bags out; she was going home to her mother.

“Dad started to laugh. I thought it was the end of the world. [Then] he put his arms around her and told her he loved her.”

As we enter the precious holiday season, let’s all take time to pause and cherish our family and friends.