Intentional Change is worth the effort.
For a long time, I wore one word: workaholic. No commas. No life.
Change is often uncomfortable, especially when it is approached with intent and measurable results. But how else will you get where you are going when what you’re doing now isn’t cutting it?
For a long time, I thought being overworked meant I was committed and on the road to success. I wore busy like a badge: long hours, an overflowing calendar, personal sacrifice, and the determination that success would arrive on schedule. After all, this is what my colleagues and mentors appeared to be doing. So why wouldn’t I follow in their footsteps?
From the outside looking in, my business was successful. In reality, I had ditched my business plan and was running wild without focus or a roadmap. Decisions were reactive, growth was based on gut feel and my belief that the future was always bright. The cost was tremendous. It consumed time, energy, patience, health, and relationships. It stole the very life it was meant to support, not suffocate.
Finally, a good friend had the sense to say it out loud: “Why are you so busy all the time? Don’t you know you are in charge of your own schedule?” Which of course, should have been true, but it wasn’t. I had given my schedule over to the real and perceived needs of my business. Her words felt like lightning. That was the day I took myself back to square one.
It started with Saturdays. They had been dedicated to work just like every other day of the week. Step one: I made a commitment to take myself out to lunch. Nothing fancy, a simple food court lunch and a silly game on my phone to keep my mind focussed on something other than work. That was the beginning. Lunch grew to cooking meals at home and soon expanded to time with family and friends. Then, almost before I knew it, weeks and months had passed, and there I was. Still me, but now I was, running a business that kept reasonable hours, rebuilding personal relationships, and adopting hobbies that I enjoyed. Getting to know my family again was a joy and taking vacations was a regular habit.
My first-hand experience taught me how easily a successful business can become exhausting behind the scenes. However, rebuilding my own business was only part of my plan. I also invested in training in profit strategy, business diagnostics, personal coaching, and decision-making so I could turn my lived experience into a practical process for others.
The result? Now, I am the professional I dreamed of becoming from the start. I work alongside business leaders and professionals (maybe just like you!) as their personal guide, thinking partner, and course corrector. Together, we work through intentional changes that create profit on purpose, design a schedule worth living, and build the discipline to make decisions that are aligned with long-term goals. Because let’s face it, you do want a life after work, and I don’t mean Friday at 5pm.