Colin Sprake blocks his calendar every Sunday with non-negotiable personal time: daily walks, meditation, and family dinners. He schedules life first, then fits work around it. Without this ritual, he says, a successful business leaves you lonely.
There's one practice that I do on a Sunday that I've been doing for decades that has made my marriage exceptional and got things really on track for me. And let me share with you what my practice is. Every single Sunday, I spend time planning my week ahead. And first thing I do, I put in my week all the things that I know I have obligations to. I have obligations to my health, so I go walking every single morning. I have obligations to my meditation, so I make sure I put that in my calendar as well. And then any appointments that I booked the prior week or weeks before, those go in my calendar. Of course, I'll probably already in my calendar. And then from there, I put in quality time time around my family. So Sunday nights for me are always dinner nights with family. Then Saturday afternoons are date afternoon with my wife. When I walk into Monday morning having known I planned my family, my quality time with my wife, and put effort and energy into my marriage, my family gives me a pep in my step as I walk into Monday mornings because I know my family is looked after. I'm taking care of the most important things to me, which are my family, not business. One day you'll walk in, you'll walk through your front door, and there'll be nobody there, and that will be the loneliest day of your life when you realize you've built a successful business, but there's no family around you because no one really cares about you because you didn't care about them. Plan your family time into your calendar every week and then plan your business time. It's not the work-life balance, it's the life-work balance. Plan your life, then plan your work, not the other way around.
