When success is measured by sales, work-life balance is crucial
It's tempting to throw yourself into work, but you need some balance. Here are 11 commonsense suggestions.
Have you heard this one? When lying on their deathbed, very few people say: “I wish I had spent more time at the office.” You work in a business where success is measured by ringing the cash register. It can be tempting to throw yourself into work, but you need to live a balanced life.
Here’s the unexpected upside: You might do even more business as a result! Consider these suggestions:
1. Keep office hours. This can be difficult in today’s work from home environment. Discipline yourself to start at a set time, take breaks, stop for lunch and leave the office at a set time. Yes, there will be crunch times when you need to put in long hours, but that’s the exception to the rule.
Why? You want to avoid burnout. Recall the law of diminishing returns you learned in school. Tired people make mistakes.
2. Get away for lunch. Don’t eat at your desk. You might rationalize clients will call and need you. That’s true. Have you tried calling them between 12:00 and 1:00? You likely don’t get them because they are at lunch!
Why: The change of scenery clears your mind. If you have lunch at places where potential prospects gather, you might make social relationships that can turn into business someday.
3. Go to the gym. An alternative is to set up your own exercise regime. It might be running or bicycling. You might play basketball with friends. You need to get the blood flowing, ideally every day.
Why: Doesn’t everyone agree exercise is good for your health? Like your lunch spot, if you work out at a gym favored by people with the potential to become clients, you will meet people…who might become clients. You don’t need to talk business. They will draw you out.
4. Schedule date nights. Once married, it’s easy to fall into routines. Courtship before marriage is often like cultivating the prospect until they become a client. In both cases, the person on the receiving end gets much more attention before the main event, less afterwards. Make it a point to schedule a weekly evening out, just the two of you.
Why: Relationships require work. You’ve seen what happens when certain clients are treated as an afterthought. It doesn’t work out well.
5. Spend time with your family. This can be difficult, since people tend to stare into their smartphones every waking moment. Have dinner together when possible. Attend meetings at school and school sports on weekends.
Why: You want them to know you are invested in their success. You want them to open up to you. An unexpected benefit is the people they meet in the course of their daily lives.
6. Take vacations. When I was new in the business I rarely took vacations. What for? Later I realized it’s important for your mental health. You need to seriously unplug. You also need to craft a vision of what you want your retired life to resemble. Then you can work towards that goal.
Why: You relax and return refreshed. You meet people. Travel is a great topic of conversation, especially in the high net-worth community.
7. Make time available for home projects. Your garden needs attention. There’s a room that needs painting. Yes, you can hire someone to do it, but it makes much more sense to do the project yourself. You save money too.
Why: No one fully understands how the brain works. You might have a problem at work that appears impossible to solve. Flashes of intuition come to you when you are working in the garden or splitting wood. The solution was in the back of your mind, but it needed a total distraction to become top of mind. Write these things down!
8. Listen to your body. We push ourselves. We skip medical checkups because “nothing’s wrong.” You tell prospects about the genius of preventive medicine, but you need to take your own advice. Have regular checkups. Visit the dentist occasionally, even if only for a cleaning.
Why: Your car will last a long time because you bring it in for service on a regular basis. There’s a message in here somewhere.
9. Eat a balanced diet. Start by realizing very, very few people have the idealized bodies you see on TV. In between those programs come a series of commercials for diet plans, getting people into a “starve, then get back to normal” routine. Instead, eat three meals a day. Bear in mind your stomach is usually full about 30 minutes before your brain sends out the message. You don’t need to only eat salads. Eat what you like, but in moderation.
Why: Food provides many of the nutrients we need. It gives us energy. But you need to eat the right foods.
10. Get enough sleep. There are people who claim to get by on two or three hours of sleep a night. I don’t know any of them. You need six to eight hours of sleep on a regular basis. It recharges the batteries.
Why: Don’t you feel like a good night’s sleep gives you the energy you need to tackle the day?
11. Plan your own retirement. You talk about retirement planning every day. You recommend financial planning as the starting point. Have you taken your own advice? Are you secretly worried you will be working at your desk until they carry you out feet first? What kind of life is that?
Why: You need a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. When you work hard and save money, you need to have a reason that motivates you. Once you have achieved financial independence, working becomes a choice, not a requirement.
It’s easy to throw ourselves into work. We see others around us doing it. It’s usually not the secret to a long life.
READ MORE: