EO Partner Presents: Family First, Business Second

Does your business rob valuable time from your family and friends? Recently, a good friend of mine shared a story related to this challenge. His 6-year-old son’s school was hosting a mid-day “father/son” event. Driven by his wife’s “serious urging,” he made a decision to attend the event, even though a last-minute business crisis had reared its ugly head.

When he arrived at the school a few minutes after the event had started, there was one boy standing outside, holding on to a chain-link fence, waiting for his dad. The boy was his son, and when their eyes met, the expression of joy on the boy’s face melted his heart. He was happy he had made the right decision, though he felt a pang of guilt for ever considering not attending the event.

One of the main reasons why so many of us put in long days and weeks at work is to support our loved ones. Ironically, the opposite message can be sent that our business is more important than the people we’re trying to support. In time, this situation will eventually take its toll on our important relationships. The fundamental resource to get control over your time and your life is you. Here are a few tips to help you keep your priorities in order:

• Make better time management a major goal. Write out a plan to achieve better time management, and include specific activities and dates. Support your plan with relevant resources; i.e., books, workshops, time-saving technologies, etc.
• Schedule personal activities in your calendar first. Schedule family, health and spirituality activities in your calendar before anything else. Add things like soccer games, date nights and exercise routines to your schedule, and then add non-personal events around these activities.
• Delegate more. Greater delegation and “letting go” of the need to control anything and everything will give you the gift of time. Use that time to focus on the “vital few” instead of the trivial many. Benefits include greater productivity, goal attainment and a happier you.
• Unplug from work. When its family or friend time, turn off the computer, stop obsessing with your Smartphone and temporarily disconnect. No excuses … just do it.

John Manning is the general manager of MAP Consulting, an EO Global partner. MAP has helped 160,000 entrepreneurs and 13,000 organizations create sustainable results. Visit www.mapconsulting.com/eo to learn about exclusive MAP support for your business or EO chapter.