(Don’t forget to get your tickets to the PIMD Real Estate Conference coming in September. I hope to meet many of you in person, or you can stay home and enjoy the conference virtually.)
Every week I find a few great articles I feel are especially valuable. This week I am doing something a little different. I had a recent conversation with a physician who is nearing retirement and is definitely a workaholic. He has never taken a vacation longer than one week in his entire career. Through the years he often left his vacations early because he thought he needed to come home and get back to work, as he felt his patients needed him, and he therefore shouldn’t be gone very long. He felt guilty when he was not at work and therefore has never enjoyed his time off. To this day, when he has a weekend off he often volunteers to work shifts for others.
The interesting thing is as he approaches retirement, he wants to travel more. His desire to travel more is in conflict with his desire to never leave work. Until he can learn to appreciate his time off, he will continue to feel guilty when he is not working. This mismatch of desires is something we work on in my high performance coaching program.
I looked through articles I had written and found eleven that emphasize enjoying time off to recharge. I encouraged him to read these articles and begin to transition his thinking. If his mindset doesn’t change, he will never be able to enjoy traveling. He doesn’t wish to retire until he is in his 70s, but he wants to travel guilt free and maybe cut back to half time at work as he ages.
I have encouraged all who will listen to take one item off their bucket list each year and put it on their calendar. Don’t wait for someday to do the things you love.
Since I complied this list for him, I thought I would share it with you today. If you feel guilty taking time off, maybe these articles will help you get over the guilt and be free to enjoy both the working and non-working parts of your life. We all need to enjoy our lives and reading these articles about the balance in my life, may help you achieve balance in your life.
Happy reading
