I’m 49 and that’s a very dangerous age; ever since primary school I knew the year I would reach 50 was going to be 2011 and back then 50 years old seemed ancient to me.
Anyone who has safely negotiated this milestone in life fully understands the soul searching and constant self evaluation that occurs. What a perfect time to be asked to write about your work/life balance but only perfect if you are pleased with how things are working out in your life so far. Obviously I must feel pleased enough to take the job.
It is Confucius who is credited with saying: “If you choose a job you love you will never work a day in your life”. Yes, like all of us I have bad days but overall I believe he was spot on with his words. I am my own boss and have been for almost 25 years, so if things aren’t right today, I have only myself to blame. I never wanted to work for anyone else because it can’t be easy to love what you do if you are being told what to do.
Most of us have conquered huge obstacles just to survive in business today; endless regulation, taxation changes, bad press, market meltdowns and property collapses. If we are still involved in Financial Planning today it is probably because we love it. But we can love what we do too much. Sometimes we can’t leave our calling alone and only get that feeling of peace and balance when we are working towards our latest business related goal. Holidays can often feel like an inconvenience if you let them. We work twice as hard before we go away to meet unfeasible deadlines and then upon our return plough straight in again to catch up.