In America, we disapprove of people drinking in excess, smoking in excess, eating in excess, etc... often citing these as having negative effects on one's health. And yet, we not only condone working in excess, we praise it!

A few weeks ago, I saw a tweet from someone declaring that they had just finished a 365-day streak of writing code and committing it to the code-hosting site Github. That level of consistency is rare and certainly worthy of remark, but this individual hasn't been away from his computer terminal for longer than 48 hours in the past year.

Personally, I found myself in this mindset right out college; I had raised money for my first business and wasn't about to let down my investors or those working for me. It wasn't until my father told me about his own experience with workaholism and how it had prevented him from really getting in touch with his family and himself that I snapped out of it. My family had always shared an unbridled support for my endeavors and I was completely neglecting that love / support they were offering.

It was like a monolithic weight had just slid off my shoulders. And then came the questions...

What matters to me?

What really matters to me?

How can I achieve the former without compromising the latter?

It took time (and plenty of support from family and friends), but I eventually struck a balance between work and my personal life. That said, I haven't been perfect! I've fallen back into the trap of workaholism, over the years, and am constantly working to maintain a level of presence and consciousness with the work I'm doing to ensure that I'm not only aligned with my core and mission, but also taking care of myself and those around me.

This shift in mindset has been instrumental in allowing me to fully embody who I am and connect with others on a deep and meaningful level from the start. Nothing seems forced and things are kind of just falling into place. It's a great way to live and an even better way to conduct business.

If you'd like to learn more about shifting your mindset, The Conscious Leadership Group is a great resource. I'm beginning to read their blog and will continue to post updates with insightful and related content.

This post was inspired by Diana Chapman's post "The Art of Stop: A Lesson in Conscious Leadership from one of San Francisco’s Finest"



