The phrase money rich time poor comes from Rob Parsons who used it in his book called the Heart of Success: Making it in business without losing in life. It’s all about getting that proper balance between achieving your goals, earning some money but living a good and interesting life.
Most successful business owners are hard workers. Those long hours and commitment to the cause can bring great rewards but they can also become the be all and end all of everything. If you are not finding great ways to reap those rewards and do something for you, then the chances are your work life balance is a little out of kilter.
In truth, it’s not about the amount of money you have but the time you take in earning it. Many families have both partners working, often at different times of the day, so they don’t see each other as much as they should for that quality time. Business owners have the weight of the world on their shoulders and late nights at the office or long meetings can simply seem the norm. It can also be a symptom of always needing to be in control when your business could, in matter of fact, work just as well without you (at least sometimes).
Downtime is important for all of us and those that are money rich time poor often have more trouble when it comes to stepping away and relaxing. Those holidays in the sun can be spent on the phone to the office, especially with all the smart phone connectivity we have nowadays, and that birthday occasion can be missed if you have an urgent appointment to take care of.
Here’s the thing: There’s more to life than business. There’s family, there are other personal achievements and leisure time out of work, and there’s a host of other things that you may have forgotten about in the rush to make your company a success. Have a think back to when you first started and I bet there were all sorts of reasons why you started this particular entrepreneurial enterprise, including wanting to retire early and enjoy life more.
Of course, running a business can be a bit like a drug and the cut and thrust of daily operations, quick decision making and continued success are probably what keeps you going, like the Duracel bunny, longer than anyone else. That’s fine but if part of you is thinking you are missing out on some very important aspects of life such as family and fun, then it’s probably time you made changes.
- Do you really need to be at that meeting or can you delegate to your second in command?
- Perhaps rather than holding so tightly onto the reins, you can give one of your top performers a new and more challenging opportunity.
- Maybe it’s time to step off the merry-go-round altogether and sell the business off, sit back and relax and enjoy the profits from the years you have invested.
- Are there other challenges that you want to grapple with before old father time calls you for a final lap of the track?
- Do you really need that much money anyway?
Perhaps you can take a leaf out of George Lorimer’s book:
“It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.”
