Stepping Out Of The Woods
By Jason Drohn • Apr 15th, 2007 • Category: entrepreneursHave you ever had a mind numbing realization? One that simply can’t go without notice?
Since last Summer, March/April to be exact, I have been working nearly 16 hours a day almost everyday. No weekends off. Some holidays. Most evenings. If a client asked for a website, I got it done in three days. If they needed network help, I was right there.
When I classify work, I mean anything that allows me a better understanding of my industry such as research and playing, or anything that makes me money. Blogging to me is considered work/fun though. I love blogging.
Sitting down Friday night, for the first time in almost 6 days, I couldn’t help but think of things I could do to further my business. And then my head shut off.
I came to the realization that I am and have been ‘too deep in the woods’ for way to long.
Great businesses are rooted in a deep understanding of industry and practical applications. For the past 13 months I have been so crazy about knowing anything and everything that I have forgotten what it is that makes life so special. I have been caught up in being everything to everybody, from family to professionals.
Don’t get me wrong. The time I put in has been hugely beneficial in my life. Having two profitable businesses. Being part of a wonderful community online. Having a huge network offline. I appreciate all that, but true greatness is a combination of both work and play.
Great blogs are written by people who apply knowledge, news, and life to each and every post they write. Great businesses offer service and experience. And great people are the ones who can leverage their professional activities with their personal ones.
With that being said, I am adopting a bit more structure to my life. Working, blogging, business, business building, all weekday activities. Learning, teaching myself software, drawing, reading, and watching movies, all night and weekend pursuits. No more mixing unless I have something to say on here…
I truly believe this is part of the path of being an entrepreneur, or else I wouldn’t have written it here. There comes a time when you lose your identity to your business (dark) side. Just be wary of when that time comes.
Jason Drohn is a blogger, business owner and consultant concerned with helping others build their businesses. So far, he has founded Tech Solution, Axiium, JDsBlog, and a host of other properties both on and off the web.
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Jason,
Good for you!
You’ll probably find you’re more energetic and healthier during the week if you take some time off on the weekends.
Blogging is a hobby for me to that I enjoy. on rare occasions it can be stressful, but usually its relaxing!
Thanks Kyle :0)
Blogging is a hobby/profession for me as well. I am as passionate about it as I am anything. Sometimes when an article isn’t quite going the way you like it can be stressful, but I love it nonetheless.
I am looking forward to the exploration of blogging. I will get into that a little more, but I am trying to frame it in my mind before I say much more. This site is going to be a little more focused on providing entrepreneurial resources and explanation to people. Critiquing the web will still play out though :0)
As always, thank you for your support :0)
Congrats for realizing the cycle you were trapped in before it was too late. I truly agree with your statement: “There comes a time when you lose your identity to your business (dark) side.”
This happened to me, in my past life in a “real” job. I ended up burning out.
As a passionate entrepreneur too, I’ve noticed my tendency to try juggling too many balls at once. I have to keep myself in check continually. It’s a constant balancing act and I still consider myself a work in progress, but I seem to have found a beat that works for me and my growing family!!
Good luck and keep blogging. Your passion comes out loud and clear and I love reading your insights.
Blogging is something I recently got into. Prior to that my site had been the same one for nearly 3 years, a victim of no time and energy to create a new one due to constant heavy workload.
Like yourself, i enjoy blogging. Quite often i can whack out three articles a day. It is this that has made me realise that i need to bring back some balance into my life.
Finding the balance is key, i dont want the pace of growth to reduce in any way, at the same time i want to, for once in a long while, not turn a computer on at the start of a day.
I havent managed the balance yet, but i am getting there.
Excellent article Jason. From my perspective I began establishing my agency business PRWD (www.prwd.co.uk) for around 2 years whilst working full time at Littlewoods Shop Direct, which placed significant time pressure on me ie. evenings and weekends were the only times I could really work on establishing my business.
This meant that my personal life did suffer as you are describing, but I thought that once I finished my other full time job, which I did in August 2006, I would then be able to focus my standard working hours on my own business then balance this with evenings and weekends for personal time.
As is the nature of establishing a a business, this idea of much more personal time didn’t materialise, instead I was still working 14 hours weekdays and full weekends, with the goal being building a successful business.
Strangely enough, around the time when I also started blogging (at this time I wasn’t even sure where I would find the time, but I needed this release to allow me to focus some of my working week on my actual core discipline and experience, user centred/user experience design and information architecture) I also came to realise that I was ‘too deep in the woods’.
This was around 2 months ago, and since this time I have made much of an effort to ensure my work/life balance allows me more time to enjoy life.
This isn’t to say I’m now not working as hard, its just I’m alot more conscious that by getting a better balance will be beneficial to me and my family on a variety of levels.
As a final note, as you have also experienced, all the hard work so far has been very worthwhile, on a business growth level and networking level, so I have no regrets as to how much effort I have put into work over the last 3 years.
Good luck with your on-going work/life balance!
Cristina, Fiaz, and Paul - Thank you for your thoughts!
I think that most of us, in our individual professions really encounter that work/life balance problem sooner or later. I have to admit, in the recent weeks, I have taken a step back, re-evaluated my definition of success, and really mapped out my major goals for the next six or so months. I also cut down on instant messenging, preferring email and phone conversations, and have stopped reading an rss feed.
Those steps alone have both increased my output in terms of quantity and quality, as my websites are actually doing better by publishing content that I originate.
I definitely appreciate your thoughts, and please don’t stop commenting. That is one thing I don’t get enough of :0)
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