This is Part 8 in the Apt Design 2011 Ebook Series – Creating Work/Life Balance.
Click here to get the book and see the whole series.
In January of 2010 I took a private business retreat that quickly turned into a holistic life retreat. One idea that really came to me as I meditated was the idea “Share Life.” It seemed like such an important epiphany that I added it to my personal mission statement:
Simplify Life- Enjoy Life
- Purify Life
- Share Life
And so this Creating Work/Life Balance series ends not with a 50-tip list for arranging your paper clips or a post on how to increase your productivity 1,000-fold, but a simple reminder to spend time with each other.
Because if you think about it aren’t the best parts of your life – the most glorious moments, the minutes filled with ringing laughter, the deepest experiences, the most special and significant seconds – aren’t they the times when you were together with other people?
Coming to this realization has put things into perspective for me. Now, part of achieving a work-life balance is being able to work little enough so that I have time for the important people in my life. Cause that’s what its all about. Spending time in a tea party with my daughter (even when she’s too young to remember it later!) becomes more important than doing more work for work’s sake. Turning off email to spend quality time in conversation with my wife just make sense. Flexing my schedule to help out a friend in the middle of the day becomes no big deal.
Work is nice and work is great, but let’s remember what’s really important at the end of the day, week, and career. The time spent with people is what we should be working for.
Life with a Capital L
And as a Christian sharing life is more than just hanging out with others. Its sharing the Abundant Life that has been freely shared with me. Its about sharing the Truth and Love that is Life and pouring love into other people as a calling in life.
Whether you life by faith or not, we should all take time to share the life we have with those less fortunate than us – either financially, physically or emotionally. Sharing life is just as much about helping others as it is anything else.
Do this Now:
Go make an appointment right now to hang out with someone (in person) that you should spend time with.
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When you separate work and life and focus on them individually you get better focus, attention and results in each. Not only that, but people deserve a separation between you work and your life.
Your family and friends deserve for you to pay attention to them while you are with them too. Continuing to work (so easy to do now with smart phones, laptops and tablets) even while physically present doesn’t fly. It devalues the relationships of the people you’re with. When you’re with your family they deserve all of your thoughts and attention. This is a lesson 
