When I was interviewing Professor Fiona Wood, Australian of the Year, pioneer of spray on skin, I was struck by her statement that “We must keep some of the best of us for those who mean the most to us.”
It made me sit back and really consider what it meant.
That if we always leave it all out ‘on the court’, if we give everything to our jobs and come home empty and exhausted, then we fail to show up for those who mean the most to us, our families.
As an entrepreneurial doctor I’ve been as guilty of this as any practicing doctor. I have been so passionate about my mission to help doctors lead exceptional lives, that I’ve given more and more of me to it and had less and less for my wife Claire and our two girls Zara and Flossie.
I remember one day sitting with Zara as she read to me and realising that time was flying by, that these precious years when my little girls were kids wouldn’t be here for ever, and that if I continued to give more of me to my ‘mission’ then it was my girls who would be paying the price.
So what was the solution?
I had to re-prioritise. Not to make my mission less important, but to make my family more important. I had to make sure I was home in time to play with them at night, to be at home in the weekend to share adventures with them, to book holidays with them (that didn’t involve me working).
What’s great is that this didn’t compromise my mission, but it certainly impacted my family, and what came as a huge surprise to me is that it actually impacted me in a very positive way which helped me to show up even better for my mission.
So I encourage you to consider, is there any part of your life that needs to be re-prioritised? Does something, or someone, need to be made a higher priority?
Then take the courageous step to do so and I think you’ll like what happens…