The cost of "The Good Life"

So for many months I've been submersed making sure that I'm delivering to customer promises. That's meant long days, long nights and working some weekends if required. Now the fact is in 5 weeks time I'm going to marry the girl of my dreams and next year we plan to start a family; quite an event in any persons life! Like many of you have experienced I'm sure, these times of added pressure, anxiety or stress are when we have to "Man up" to it and get it done....right ? ....hmmm 

What I'd like to share with you is how my personal experience of spinning multiple plates in 2 growing businesses whilst simultaneously planning a wedding made me feel I needed to reach out because I felt like  I was drowning. The harder I worked the more tasks needed to be added to the already obese to-do list; hence the more hours needed to be done and before I knew it I was in quite a bad place. The pressure to act like this was completely self inflicted - there was no mentor or critical voice apart from my own. I was telling myself that it's ok to look at my phone at 2am when an email lands from the UK or US, or taking calls at 9pm when everyone else is talking about their day, all in the belief I was "going the extra mile"

This behaviour has been enabled through technology potentially being like a shadow; if you have an android phone or Iphone in your pocket it probably knows either where you are, who you're with, what you're doing; either remotely from the permissions you've agreed to or because you've posted it ! 

So then, how well are we coping with the evolution in technology today that now enables us to work 24/7? Globalisation has never been so accessible. And what is the detriment to the more important relationships in our lives? What is the potential consequence we pay on how technology is playing a role in the cost of "The Good Life" ....

The biggest challenge I see is how the rapid evolvement of technology has reframed what "The good life" means to working professionals. Fact is that technology today has enabled us to be more accessible than we've ever been before 24/7. Automated processes, utilising IP and open-all-hours communication now enable us to be more productive than what weve ever been before; the NET effect of this for millions of busy professionals today is "no such thing as the 9-5 job". In-fact, suicides due to stress at work continually rise, children lose connection with the parent they rarely see and divorce figures also continue to spiral. Its become a state of human acceptance especially in the US that this is the norm...It's not always a case of a Manager cracking the whip saying this lifestyle is expected either; It's actually our own processing and awareness that this is what most others are doing so we follow like sheep. 

Its no secret that THE MOST successful entrepreneurs of today have a very different view of what being productive means. Sure, in the early days working your proverbial nuts off could accelerate achievement of the business goals...and we all want to see that; but is it a sustainable way of working ?  My suggestions when I coach business owners is to identify the core business levers and put together a plan that's lazer focused on these  based on being "effective" NOT "efficient" There are plenty of Entrepreneurs and Business Owners who have been efficiently unsuccessful through focusing on the wrong things! I'd like to share with you a podcast by Daniel Petre - previous VP APAC for Microsoft and a part of the global senior leadership group. He shares what a "good life" means to him...and it's certainly not how many hours he's been sat at his desk. 

https://wakeupproject.com.au/blog/daniel-petre-the-good-life/#player

So what's changed? ...This is important. The only people that actually frustrate me are the ones who complain about situations but don't seek answers. So what did I do? Here's a few, the complete list of fixes is way too long ;0)

1, First thing I did was identify my "Time Robbers" ... those tasks (or people) that feel important but looking closer don't actually support any of the core business levers for success. I then decided from a utilisation perspective how much time I was willing to give these and put the new time i'd generated into things that made more impact.

2, I analysed my sales plan and discovered it was too grey; I increased the detail by creating prospect sub-sectors that were more targeted where the opportunity for cross pollination and multi monetising was far greater. I also decided that my values are more akin to having a community rather than customers - big difference.

3, I reached out to people I respected in business that I saw somehow seemed to have balance between significant success and a great home life. One is now my mentor and we meet every week to sound board and evaluate. This is from a humanistic/cathartic point of view rather than review of KPI's. 

4, I included "Be kind to myself" time slots into my weekly plan (under instruction by my mentor) Sounds funny doesn't it...well I thought so too initially but after 6 months I've now lost 20lbs in weight and I'm generally healthier than I've been in years. I have more focus than ever before and my problem solving skills are continually improving. For any professional, making sure in your plan you allocate time to "Work on your work" is how you'll get continual improvement. 

5, Don't procrastinate and know when "good" is "good enough" Too much time to reply to that email from your customer, boss, wife or husband? If you're reading things time after time and asking the universe questions if it's perfect then the fact is you've probably gone overboard, written to much and therefore won't get a reply as you've been filed in the "read on the plane" category.

I think it's imperative for people to reach out when a pillar of your life is suffering because others have become dominant; a lot of us live in ignorance and aren't even aware of the fact. What I try and install in the business leaders and Entrepreneurs I coach is that it's OK to accept the fact we are human and don't have all the answers. If we did, how boring would that be?

What we should understand as humans is that showing vulnerability lets the people around us take a breath and feel they can now have a genuine interaction with a real person. Adopting the fasade of a positive, rigid projection of ourselves creates the opportunity for others to feel they should mirror us.

Out of the two, what kind of interaction would you choose to have with your customers, friends and loved ones ?

 ...................................................................................................................................

Please feel free to share if you have any comments or personal insights regarding this topic. I can be reached directly through Linkedin or [email protected]

For useful free stuff on Entreprenuership, growing successful start-ups or business in Australia stay connected on twitter at https://twitter.com/Directorbamboo