Most of us agree that money affords us high-quality fresh food and nice things for ourselves and our families. Money can provide a comfortable home, and beautiful experiences, such as family trips. I myself have particularly always loved to travel!
But, if you require yourself to be a slave to your business and end up sacrificing important “little” life moments with your loved ones to make all that money, then what are we really doing all this for?
Last week, I was debating with a friend about how many years of sacrifice and overwork are acceptable. I know people who make amazing amounts of cash but still spend a large part of their time working and away from their families in the name of this never-ending journey of going after more money.
Personally, I subscribed to this mindset for many years, but it’s become obvious that this way of thinking is absolutely not OK for me anymore.
I see a huge mindset change after the pandemic where the younger generation simply wants to enjoy more life. We saw life possibly coming to an end, and that made us think harder about how we wanted to spend our time while alive.
The other weekend, my husband’s childhood friend’s teenage son from Sweden came over and said he was done with high school and he wouldn’t be going to college. He is taking time to travel the world and will decide what he wants to do with his life at some point. When I heard, I thought , what a privileged, self-serving kid. When I graduated high school, I went straight into college and then straight into work, and this kid is going on vacation…. What the hell is going on?
Is he really wrong, or are these kids simply more sophisticated than when we were their age? Here I am 20+ years his senior listening to this boy speak of the importance of life balance while I’m still trying to wrestle with just how much work and personal time creates the best recipe.
And that’s why delegation is so important in the real world for small business owners and entrepreneurs. One must be able to strive to remove oneself from their work. The goal is to build teams around you that will do your work, so you will no longer be necessary for your company. This, my friends, is the key. You don’t want to be the CEO; you want to have a great CEO working for you. But first we have to build that team around us.
This is the key to having amazing experiences, both small ones that happen every day and large family vacations.
The reason why I sacrificed so much at a younger age was that I was living under a scarcity mindset. I thought I had to do everything myself to save every dollar I could. The result of that was overwork and the sacrifice of special moments. If only I knew back then what I know now….
I am more and more passionate about what we do at Stafi. Talking about mindset and belief are a starting point. But our goals at Stafi are practical, no-nonsense, get it done.
For me, being able to stop working after I pick up my daughter from school and turn off completely during family vacations is what I work for. Having money is important, but being able to truly enjoy these moments is what’s truly important.
Enough for today.
Good night.
Raquel Gomes
