The ideal workday

Most of us have dreams of retiring early and being able to spend ample time with friends and family and other things that we like. Most people want to get out of that corporate job that has them up at 5am, scrambling around with the kids til 6am, drop off the kids at 7am, in traffic til 8am, at work until 6pm, in traffic until 7pm, brief family time until 8pm, do more work until 10pm, intimate time with your spouse until 10:30pm (if it's a good day), to bed by 11pm, then up again at 5am, ... and so the cycle continues. Man was not meant to live like that. We weren't born to be caged up in little cubicles all day long working long hours and giving away half of our pay in taxes. We weren't meant to have to settle for 30 minutes-1 hour of family time weekly while our relationships with our children and spouse suffer. This is simply not the ideal workday.

You see, most people don't have a problem with working or with working hard for that matter. Most people have a problem with working hard long hours at something that they are not passionate about and were not born to do and does not fulfill them. I believe everyone in life deserves to be able to do something that they are truly passionate about. As I've heard dozens of successful entrepreneurs say, find something you are passionate about and learn how to turn that passion into profits. Long hours do not seem quite as long when you are working off passion rather than chasing that carrot ... or paycheck, as most of us call it.

The ideal workday should entail ample time spent on your passions. We should be passionate about our business related endeavors and likewise be passionate about our family. Our days should be flexible enough where we get 2-3 hours of family time each day in the midst of pursuing our business passions. If we need to take an hour away from business in the middle of a workday to go and see our little girl in a school play, we should be able to. If we need to take a couple hours to help our son grasp some difficult Math concepts, we should be able to. We should not be slaves to the alarm clock, the traffic report, the 1 hour lunch, the 2 weeks vacation, the 10 hour work days EVERY DAY, and all of these other ills of the corporate lifestyle. Whether our business passions involve music, entertainment, real estate, education, or all of the above, we should be able to exercise our full efforts in these passions while still being able to place full emphasis on our ultimate passion, which is quality with friends, family, and other loved ones. NOW THAT is the ideal workday.

Quite a Conundrum

Should I stay or should I go ? Regarding my present job situation and the way that I was blatantly devalued and disrespected , then OBVIOUSLY the answer is "I should go". So the better questions are "when should I go ?" and "how long can I grin and bare it ?" and "how long can I get up each day and dread having to interact with the same people that treated me as Judas did Jesus and Brutus did Julius Caesar ?" So why is there any dilemma at all ? I was screwed, THAT'S IT !! Find another job and get on your merry way, right ? While that is certainly an appropriate reaction and I have no doubts about being able to find another J.O.B. within weeks, my present job offers me a lot of added benefits that makes it ideal to sew seeds in other business ventures and set me up for my 2nd act as a full time entrepreneur.

You see, I presently drive about 10 minutes to work, I'm able to go home for lunch, I'm able to go to lunch for 2-3 hours if need be, I don't work long hours, I leave mostly at 5pm, etc. I have a situation that is conducive to not putting all my eggs in one basket in being dependent on a single source of income. I am able to disappear for an hour or 2 to go meet with a prospective client for my media business. I am able to disappear for a while to evaluate properties for my real estate interests. I am able to take some time away to pitch a business plan at potential investors so they can bank roll one of my ideas so that we can put it into action. In a nutshell, my present situation affords me a lot of conveniences that enable me to lay the foundation for building successful business endeavors and not have to depend on an employer for my financial needs. Putting in the effort to go and find another J.O.B. will only take away from time that could be spent on building successful businesses. Also, the expectation levels when starting a new job are different and my work hours would naturally be longer as I try and establish myself in the new environment.

So therein lies the conundrum my friends. Should I leave now because the feeling of staying is just unbareable ? Do I grin and bare it and milk this situation for all its conveniences ? I will continue to pray and to ask for guidance because I waiver back and forth as to what is direction I should go now that I am at this proverbial fork in the road of life. Quoting the ever-quotable Yogi Berra, "when you get to that fork in the road, TAKE IT ...". Now, which way Yogi ? which way ?