Work/Life Balance

January 6, 2010
Interview with Louis Upkins, author of Treat Me Like a Customer: Using Lessons from Work to Succeed in Life

_______________

Mike Carruthers:
For a lot of people today, career and achievement are more important than anything else.

Louis Upkins:
People are so driven by success that they’re willing to step on the things that they say matter to them.

Louis Upkins, author of the book Treat Me Like a Customer: Using Lessons from Work to Succeed in Life …

And so they’ll put all their time and energy toward getting the next promotion or getting the next bonus or whatever it takes. But they won’t put that same time and attention to be a great wife or a great husband or a great brother or a great friend. They just take those relationships for granted but yet we’re the first to bring our wallet out to show you all the great pictures of our kids and say, “Hey I love my family” – but how much time are you putting in that space.

People who work so much that they have to cancel family promises or miss family events think, “Well, they’ll understand, they’re family”.

That’s so the opposite. We can always get another job, we can always change a career but you mess up a family the chances of you fixing that up are slim to none.

Since this is the time of year when people make New Year’s resolutions to change things for the better, Louis says remember…

Your time is where your heart is. And if you’re spending 95% of your time burning the night oil at work then that tells me that that’s where your greatest priority is and I think the hope is that people can pull it back into perspective. And that we don’t’ work so hard and we’re not so driven that we gain the world but lose our very families.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here.