Unplug & Embrace Leisure

George Eastman, who developed the handheld camera and who founded the Eastman Kodak Company, said: "What we do during our working hours determines what we have; what we do in our leisure hours determines what we are."

What You Have

Work puts a roof over our heads, food on the table, and provides for the necessities, and, hopefully, some of the luxuries of life.

What You Are

Leisure puts fun, love, and friendship into our lives and helps us grow as individuals and as part of society. We learn more; we expand our horizons. In the end, we contribute more to our worlds, and, in the end, that benefits the world at large.

The unfortunate thing for most people today is that leisure time is vanishing. Weekends once were spent on home and yard maintenance, family activities, reading and hobbies—in other words, mostly on fun and personal growth.

Work Never Ends

Now weekends find people catching up on email, updating blogs and websites, and other activities designed to get a jump on the work week. For those who are self-employed, weekends have become the time to work on marketing and promotion, correspondence, filing, and other clerical work.

For entrepreneurs, work never ends. There's always something to be done so the self-employed person is always torn between family and business—between fun and work. As a self-employed person, I know that it's hard to unplug on the weekends, but this year I've tried very hard to do that.

Sometimes I succeed at ignoring email and blogging and reading that next marketing book and implementing its ideas. Sometimes, I look at slumping sales and mentally castigate myself for not working harder.

Life Balance

There just aren't any easy answers, but I try to remember this. If I'm lying on my death bed, am I going to regret that I didn't work more... work harder? Or will I regret that I didn't spend more time with those I love... that I didn't have more fun?

Takeaway Truth

How do you answer that question?