[Update] Finding work/life balance
[Update] Finding work/life balance
3
milkshakelake (Structural)
(OP)
thread731-500307: 12 years in, struggling to find work/life balance
I had a post about some life-changing stuff earlier. In a nutshell, I was overwhelmed with work and life balance. I promised I'd update but the thread was closed automatically, so here's what changed:
1. I gave up some power and let my employees take charge of things. They have made plenty of mistakes along the way, but almost everything was able to be fixed somehow and I rely on them more. A lot of mental pressure has been lifted. This has been a life saver.
2. I'm not hesitating to hire help for things when I need it (like for cleaning my house or fixing something). I might even get a personal assistant at some point. It might not work in terms of pure ROI, but might ease the pure flood of stuff to deal with (investments, work, insurance, registrations, etc). At the same time, I'm trying to strike a balance of not hiring and expanding too quickly.
3. I stopped trying to do tangential but heavy tasks like programming things myself. I'm just one person and can't do amazing things. I'll hire a programmer if I need to, based on ROI rather than trying to accomplish cool things.
4. I let go of a huge part of my ego, which wasn't easy. I'm still sure some of it is there. But I don't have to control every little thing because "I'm the only one who can do it properly."
5. I'm spending more time with my kid before he grows up and I lose that time forever.
Stuff I need to do:
I'm still more of an engineer than a businessperson. But I've been making the transition to doing less engineering and just letting others handle it. I see business decisions as the only path forward to really reduce my live load and "automate" things.
I had a post about some life-changing stuff earlier. In a nutshell, I was overwhelmed with work and life balance. I promised I'd update but the thread was closed automatically, so here's what changed:
1. I gave up some power and let my employees take charge of things. They have made plenty of mistakes along the way, but almost everything was able to be fixed somehow and I rely on them more. A lot of mental pressure has been lifted. This has been a life saver.
2. I'm not hesitating to hire help for things when I need it (like for cleaning my house or fixing something). I might even get a personal assistant at some point. It might not work in terms of pure ROI, but might ease the pure flood of stuff to deal with (investments, work, insurance, registrations, etc). At the same time, I'm trying to strike a balance of not hiring and expanding too quickly.
3. I stopped trying to do tangential but heavy tasks like programming things myself. I'm just one person and can't do amazing things. I'll hire a programmer if I need to, based on ROI rather than trying to accomplish cool things.
4. I let go of a huge part of my ego, which wasn't easy. I'm still sure some of it is there. But I don't have to control every little thing because "I'm the only one who can do it properly."
5. I'm spending more time with my kid before he grows up and I lose that time forever.
Stuff I need to do:
I'm still more of an engineer than a businessperson. But I've been making the transition to doing less engineering and just letting others handle it. I see business decisions as the only path forward to really reduce my live load and "automate" things.
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RE: [Update] Finding work/life balance
This one is a REALLY tough thing to do; BTDT, but I still cringe thinking about the stuff I delegated to others who weren't up to the challenge.
TTFN (ta ta for now)
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RE: [Update] Finding work/life balance
RE: [Update] Finding work/life balance
best wishes and good luck with your life adventure.
RE: [Update] Finding work/life balance
RE: [Update] Finding work/life balance
RE: [Update] Finding work/life balance
Thanks for letting us know how you've adapted and great to hear it sounds like its mainly going well.
As I get older I find some thing's just naturally fade away as the years pass so when you're looking at another 20+ years of working, things which are important or not important then change when you start looking at <10 years.
Called life I guess.
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RE: [Update] Finding work/life balance
@LittleInch Agreed, my priorities are much different than when I started the company, let alone when I was working for someone else or in college. I feel like a completely different person. Things just change, and we need to adapt or fall into despair. Thankfully, your advice and the others' were pretty meaningful and helped me adapt.