How Much is Enough-Work Life Balance

We live in a world where there seems to be a lot of people telling us to “slow down”, it is important to “balance” you work and life and that we need to “have fun”.
The funny thing about these statements is they are nearly all true but they are often based on one problem.
That is the idea that work is something that you do because you have to and not because you love to.  I can tell you that if you love what you do at work then you won’t need to have time to balance it with other things so that you can relax, but you will love going to work and make things happen.
How many people do you know that work in a job that they hate?  Maybe even you do.  How do they feel going to work each day, the same old grind day-after-day doing the same things with no passion and no purpose.
Have you ever seen someone that loves what they do?  Hopefully this is you.  How do they look at work how much more do they get done and how do they feel compared to the others.
The next point about life/balance is yes you need to look after all of the areas of your life, but a lot of people miss the main point when it comes to this as well.  Looking after all the areas of your life doesn’t mean making sure you give set hours to each thing, but what it means is to excel at everything you do.  I read a good example the other day of a successful businessman who has a young girl – about six months old.  Every morning he gets up one hour earlier than he used to and he goes out with his daughter and does something for example goes and buys the groceries, goes for a walk with the dog etc.  Every night he gets home about seven and his daughter is already asleep and he gets to spend quality time with his wife.
I know another example of a successful businessman who takes his daughters to school and arrives at the office at 9:30.  He works until 5:30 and between 6pm and 10pm he can’t be contacted for anything but his family.  At 10pm the family goes to sleep and he goes back to work for two hours.
Compare this to the average person who spends four to six hours a day in front of the television or the businessman who is constantly answering the phone or handling emails whilst he is with his family or friends.
So I want to come to the question that I posed ion the heading of this article.  How much is enough?  The answer is more than you think you need to.  Do more than you think you need to, to be successful at everything you do.
But to be able to do that the key ingredients are:
1)    Love what you do.
2)    At everything you are doing make sure you are the best.
3)    Be the best.
Posted by Greg Paul of Dynamic Business MentorsHow much is enough-Work life Balance