In addition to being able to spend more quality time with my family, I also get to do things that are just for me. One of my weekly goals is to get enough done by Friday that I can take the day off and me and my camera can go out. I love taking pictures as you just look at things in a completely different way than you had before.

@shane – I would say my balance changes given the day. Some days I spend 10 hours working and others I spend 6. In general I think I have a pretty good balance though…at least it works for me.

ahh the traditional 8-8-8. Thats a good point B (see #11 in all nighter). Julie had a friend in college who was quite religious about the idea that a ballanced life had 8 hours of work -8 hours of play – 8 hours of sleep. And he stuck to his guns.

Thinking about it – I wonder how my day plays out. We’ll lets take today.

Woke up at 7am.

1. Had to hitch a ride with julie to pick up my car (.5 hours play).

2. drove home while on the phone checking in with the team (.5 h work)
3. get home, do calls and email until 10am (2 hours work)
4. take a break and read a little (being honest – 1 hour play)
5. finish QA of an app and launch (work 1.25 hours)
6. finance (.75 h work)
7. meet peter and aaron for lunch (.75 hours play)
8. sit at lulus, email a bit of sales (.25 work)
9. meeting with peter to work on some projects (est. 1.5 hrs work)
10. surfing (play 3 hours)
….

therefor so far today

sleep (bed by 11 up at 7): 8 hours – check
work: 6.25
play: 2.25 3 surfing: 5.25

looks good to me. Will have one final work burst of about 2 hours in the evening. Then time with Julie. Then bed.

Hows your balance?

I keep hearing from people that if you want to be successful you need to choose what you want to do, and then perfect you in that _one_ thing. But my reaction to those comments is more like, “if that’s what success means, I don’t know if I want to be successful” than “OK, well I guess I should get back to my desk and start learning Hibernate.”

Luckily I don’t have debt because I’ve worked through my studies (and studying itself is free here in Finland). But on the other hand, I still haven’t finished my Master’s degree although I’ve been studying since the last millenium I will, some day, but right now writing, building a business and taking care of my family seem much more interesting than writing a thesis on software development…

Let’s see how this story ends, but right now, I’m working hard figuring out if one can have a great life without specializing in just one thing.

in my experience, MOST of the “successful” people I know (In terms of being happy and content with their life etc) had a hard time in college and a hard time with the stresses of choosing a vocation.

It took me 5 years to get my Undergrad degree, because at some point I decided I wanted to do:

1. Politics
2. Law
3. Journalism
4. Communications
5. Teaching
6. Business/Economics
7. Writing
8. Multimedia
9. Medicine

At which point I had cobbled together enough units to qualify for the Pol Sci/Legal Studies degree… then continued on to the Masters for some unknown reason…

So I too have a massive debt (which is not as terrible in Australia because it is repaid through the tax system at 2% per year or somesuch), but I would not trade it for all the stability and boredom in the world!

What I am saying is — embrace the fact that you find many things interesting. Don’t accept being pigeonholed by naysayers who think the”respectable” thing to do is to work for a medium income, with a house in the mortgage belt and 2.3 children. Thats not everything.

I have 2 kids, I have tried lots of different things in my young age (28) and would not take it back for anything now that I have found my niche. its a great feeling that not many people get to experience.

So I was recently an employee. I loved my work, but hated my job. I found that as much as I loved what I did, my environment really kept me from being happy.

I found that I ‘love’ to do a lot of different things. I’m a bit of nerd, so I love the development work I get to do. I love the creative side of my work. I love talking and working with people. Being a solo entity now allows me to define what I do, and who I am on a day by day (or at least project by project) basis.

I think that most people are pretty frustrated by the fact that they have to pick one thing. It took me nearly a decade to get through college because I couldn’t pick. $70,000 of debt, 2 majors and 3 minors later I’m learning that I’m the kind of person that isn’t necessarily going to thrive doing one thing.

Now, if I can find someway to develop the ‘goals’ side of things, I’ll be in great shape. I’ve got plenty o’ dreams, and lot’s of loves. Hopefully some goals will give me some focus.

AND… i actually did shovel shit for 6 months on small organic farm up in the cascades, and it was awesome.

We are also talking about careers, life choices and happiness.

In my opinion, all of these change. They change all the time. Certain things may stay consistent for a long period of time, and I think that Lodewijk and others referred to these as core values.

Most of us have been brought up with the concept of a 5 year and 10 year plan. Many people that I find have become “lost” within their careers and/or the daily grind have lost sight of one of those plans.

Those who can’t see what should be the ever changing 5 year plan any more, are those who become lost in the grind. They think if they can just hold out, that they will eventually get the payoff they believe is looming.

Those who loose sight of the long term plan, which should change less frequently, typically can’t see past an immediate gain. They can flit between jobs so long as they can reach all these short term goals.

Part of the concept of growth, work and a balanced lifestyle has to be tied (in some part) to how you keep track of your life plans, and your willingness to change, if necessary, to meet them.

I take a vacation once a year. Usually to some other country with a different set of values/culture/life outlook. I spend a bit of time each trip looking at my life from the previous year and evaluating what I did, was I happy, what would I change and how do I move forward. This usually involves making some slight tweaks to the short term plan, while keeping an eye on the long.

How often does everyone here take some time to evaluate where they are and where they want to go? I do not own my own business. My side work of contracting is not my primary source of income. I’m curious how this effects the entrepreneur. You all seem to hold your job as more important aspect in your life than I do.