Time Is Precious, And So Are Your Children!

Undoubtedly, one of the greatest blessings in life is having children. Any genuinely loving parent would agree that their child or children are the most precious asset/s to them in life. Such is the power of love we have for them, they mean the world to us. Let's be honest here also though, parenting is far from an easy job, and there are many times our children severely test our patience, cause us stress, make us angry, are disrespectful to us, are disobedient towards us, and they completely exhaust us. At the end of the day though, we still love them with all our heart, and we want nothing but the best for them in life. We often forget though, that part of giving the best to them in life is giving ourselves to them. What I mean by that is giving our time to them, and quality time at that. As a parent myself, I know the importance of having a mental break from our children also, just having some time out for ourselves, or sharing some private time with our partner, both being vitally important and beneficial for us, so we can be the best version of ourselves. The thing is though, are we really spending enough quality time with our children? Part of wanting the best for them in life also includes providing for them. Providing for them consists of ensuring they are adequately fed, they have shelter, they have clothing, they have a comfortable bed to sleep in, and basically, anything that offers them a decent quality of life. All these provisions cost money of course, so we need money, and we obtain that money from our job. This is where the problem lies.

It's a fine line between balancing our work commitments with our family commitments. The reality is, in order to provide for our children and our family, we have to sacrifice many hours of our week towards our job or our business. Unless we have some form of investment that generates us an income to live sufficiently and provide for our family, work is basically unavoidable. So with work on our daily schedule, we straight away lose that time spent with our children, we know that. The question is, how much time are we dedicating to our work at the expense of missing out on quality time with our family? Work-life balance is a tricky one, that's for sure. As important as our job or business is, and earning an income, we should never be exceeding our scheduled work hours. Even when we are inundated with work, even when our boss asks us to stay back, even when we are behind in our work, there should never be an excuse to trade our family time in for our work time. In a perfect world, businesses and companies would understand that, and never expect or ask us to stay overtime, however the harsh truth is, most companies and businesses don't care about their employees, they only care about their profits. Working overtime or excessively is where most people make a crucial error in life that ends up leading them to regret in later life.

You see, we don't reach our senior years and regret not having worked more and for longer hours, we regret not having spent more quality time with those whom we love. We regret not being there when our child talks for the first time, walks for the first time, crawls for the first time, goes to school for the first time, or even just those missed opportunities we could have been playing with them and spending more time with them. We get too involved and infatuated with our job and our business, placing our primary focus on preserving our employment and earning money, that we completely forget what's really most important to us. What should occupy just one third of our day (8 hours), ends up extending out to 10+ hours. We can't forgot the commuting aspect of work either, which normally eliminates another hour or two from our day also, then not to forgot the necessities such as showering, eating, toilet trips, and sleep. Adding any other commitments we have on our plate, all of a sudden, the true amount of time spent with our family and our children is revealed. The reality of it all is, that we basically dedicate our weekends and annual leave times to our family and children, as being our quality time with them, but is that really enough? Are we going to be satisfied with that arrangement come our senior years, or are we going to experience that regret I talked of above? No matter how much we wish for it, we can never get time back. Once it has passed, it's gone forever! Do we really want to miss out on quality moments with our children, all for the sake of our job or our business? If we are living a life in which our work is overriding other aspects of our life, which not only includes our family, but also our health, our lifestyle, our goals, and our happiness, then it should serve as a massive wake up call that we need to make changes.

It's a difficult scenario, hey? How can we change our work arrangements, and still be generating a decent income, whilst allowing ourselves more opportunity to spend with our children? Two answers here. Firstly, money isn't everything in life. Yes, we want to be earning a decent income so we can provide wonderful things and luxuries to enjoy and provide our children with, but sometimes earning less and making sacrifices, in order to spend more time with those we love, can be far more rewarding. Money will forever be around, but our children, our loved ones, and ourselves, will not. You will always have time to earn money, you won't always have time to spend with those you love. It's a question you need to ask yourself, what truly is more important to you, money or your family? Secondly, take a risk and make some changes to have more flexibility in life. A job isn't the only source of income we are restricted to in life. Let's not forget the option of starting a business. Not only does entrepreneurship allow us the opportunity to do work we truly love, and something we are genuinely passionate about and enjoy, but we can also arrange our business around our lifestyle. Many business models are flexible these days, to the point where we can now work from home, and even work our own hours. There's no disputing that businesses need a lot of commitment, hard work, and investment, applied to them, but if you have the right attitude, mindset, and work ethic, there's no reason why you cannot make it successful. As a business owner, your income is also uncapped, so how you apply yourself will determine the rewards you get. Entrepreneurship gives you that flexibility to work your own hours, and ultimately, more flexibility for family time. As a business owner, it's vital you don't fall in the trap of overcommitting though, and end up working excessive hours to make it work. It's a case of working smarter, not harder. The message today though is simple! Our children mean the world to us, and we don't want to be wasting our life away by working, when we can instead be spending more quality time with our family, each and every day, so we can look back in later life without carrying the regret of not having spent enough time with them. Take the opportunity to look at your work schedule, and determine whether you are spending excessive time at work and not enough quality time with your children. If so, don't be afraid to make changes before it's too late. Time is precious, and so are your children!

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