Why Entrepreneurship Is Key to Life Balance

In our last post, I mentioned that there was a way to have life balance – to be happier at work so that you can be a better parent. Well, the happier you begins with entrepreneurship.

Take This Job and Shove It

http://youtu.be/EPrSVkTRb24

Before you get concerned that I am suggesting that you turn your life upside down – quit your job and start your own business TODAY, relax. I’m not suggesting that at all.

You don’t have to walk into your supervisor’s office, hand them your resignation letter and say “take this job and shove it…” Instead, I am merely suggesting that beginning today – you start thinking of yourself as an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship in the case of a parent means recognizing that your life is like a corporate entity with numerous departments that have to all run efficiently if the business is going to be successful. For example, just as two departments like sales and marketing have to work together in business – your life has to have the same harmonious coordination.

Successful parents master entrepreneurship so that – namely our two biggest life departments – family and work function effectively and efficiently together.

To Thine Own Self Be True

To Thine Own Self Be True

Before you can master parental entrepreneurship, you must begin where all businesses start by asking “who am I”. On the surface, “who am I” seems a simple enough question. However, the three words, “who am I” are more challenging than the six letters – w-h-o-a-m-I – would indicate.

Why is it so important to know who you are? Because not knowing who you are is a reason why so many of us are included in the 70% of disengaged and uninspired workers.

We begin our professional careers not by following the advice we give our children – “do what you love”, “follow your passion” or “if you love what you do the money will come”. Instead, of following our own virtuous advice, we too often take jobs solely for financial benefits.

Now look, unlike Mike Tyson, I’m not oblivious.

I freely acknowledge the role money plays in our life. However, more often than we should, we choose where we are going to work primarily because of salary. We choose the job with the higher wage without giving enough consideration – if any consideration at all – to the other aspects of our life.

We don’t consider quality of life. We work in environments that are incompatible with being a successful parent. We take jobs that don’t fit who we say we are or who we proclaim we want to be.

Who Are You?

Well now that it is clear that you are not Batman. Let me ask who are you? Do you know? Do you know? Do you know?

Not knowing who you are is like being the CEO of Enron, Polaroid, Sharper Image and Bethlehem Steel. If you would like to avoid the fate of these defunct corporations – living a life without balance – you are going to have to figure out very quickly who you are. If you don’t know who you are, you are likely going to watch as your life unravels just like the aforementioned colossal business failures.

Take Two And Call Me In The Morning

Don’t worry, I would never leave you with bad news. Like any good doctor, I don’t just diagnose the problem, I provide a prescription. Fortunately, my prescription comes without the usually litany of side effects and warnings.

Yet, my prescription is no less addictive than those provided by the pharmaceutical companies. This prescription is a precursor to having a balanced life – getting rid of sleepless nights, heart palpitations, weight gain, moodiness, hair loss, etc. This prescription will help you know who you are so that you can be true to yourself and have harmonious relationships with those who depend on you.

So without further ado, do the following two things and call me in the morning:

1. Check out Kolbe – Kolbe offers a series of assessments geared to help you attain life balance – improving your personal and professional life. According to Kolbe their assessments “gives you greater understanding of your own human nature and allows you to begin the process of maximizing your potential both personally and professionally”.
2. Check out Strength Finders 2.0 – Like Kolbe strength finders will help you on the road of parental entrepreneurship. According to Strength Finders 2.0, it is “Loaded with hundreds of strategies for applying your strengths…will change the way you look at yourself — and the world around you – forever”.

I am convinced that if we start understanding how vital it is to develop and maintain a spirit of entrepreneurship and take the time to assess who we are, we will be well on our way to having a balanced life – going from disengaged and uninspired employee to a happier healthier parent.

Is your life like an inefficient business on the verge of bankruptcy? Have you assessed whether your life departments work together effectively and efficiently?