I want you to be a success at work. I want you to have the business you’ve dreamed of but lets be totally clear.

If you win at work and aren’t a good parent, friend, spouse, partner I think you’ve failed.

How many business articles have you read this week? How many business books have you read? How many seminars, courses, or talks have you been to which are supposed to help you run an awesome business?

Now go back and instead of thinking about your business think about your family. How much time have you put in to being an awesome father, mother, or spouse?

For most of us (and I include myself) the ratio is heavily skewed towards the business end of the spectrum. Investing in our business success is easy while investing in the success of those we love is hard. This is an insane paradigm.

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Work suffers when

Think back to a fight you had with someone close to you. How did work go that day? I know when I have a poor morning with my kids or my wife I’m distracted all day. My work suffers and not just in quality. I can’t get as much done in the day because I’m thinking about the disagreement at home.

I know you didn’t set out to put your family on the back burner. You started your business with the thought that being your own boss would mean you have more time to spend with your kids or your loved ones. You’d get the chance to be a better parent because you could spend time with your kids regularly. You’d be a better friend because you could head out for a random long lunch to nurture a friendship.

Yet as the demands of business wormed their way in to your life…well it never quite happened that way.

You started working longer hours.

You let the stress of where the next client was coming from affect how you dealt with those you love.

Maybe you started to have more bad days than good with your loved ones.

I’ve been there and some weeks I’m still there but I’m trying.

I’ve got people that ask me about how things are going with my family. They ask if I’m working to much and they hold me accountable to being the father and husband I want to be.

They care less about my business success and more about my family success.

Who do you have that holds you accountable to being that awesome with your family?

photo by: kalexanderson