Work Addiction

For years, I was addicted to my work.  I slept with my laptop, wrote emails at all hours of the day and night, called colleagues or clients every time I set foot in a car and did NOT know how to unplug. 

 

At all.

 

I continued that obsession from my early career years into my corporate career, up the corporate ladder and even well into owning my own business.  And I’ll never forget the day that changed.  It was just after dinner and I was sitting on the floor of my living room with my nearly 4 year old son.  We were playing our own made up game of animals and cars (his favorite game at the time).  It was the third time I had reached for my phone to text a client back (about something that could EASILY have waited until the morning) and he looked at me and said, “Mommy, we are playing!  Put down your phone.”

 

It stabbed my heart like a dagger.

 

I could see on his face that he was feeling ignored.  My physical presence wasn’t enough.  He wanted all of me.  I had been gone at work all day and this wad OUR time for connection and play.

 

That was the day I vowed to be present when I was home and to leave work at work. 

 

I was so obsessed with my apps and my posts, my emails and conversations that I had to DELETE all of my works apps from my phone EVERY DAY before I left the office and reinstall them every morning after I dropped Noah off.  It was a pain in the butt, but it saved my relationship with my son and forced my hand to set aside my addiction to work.  That day I established a boundary that I had to force myself to honor. 

 

He’s nine now and I’ve been able to regain a sense of balance over the past five years.  I no longer need to delete work apps (unless I’m on a genuine vacation, then bye-bye email!) because I now have self-control. 

 

I love what I do and I love my downtime and my family too.

 

So, every once in a while, even on a casual, relaxed Saturday morning, when I get an “I just signed the documents” email from a business owner who is our EXACT IDEAL client — bright, ambitious, tenacious as heck.  Ready to set their sights on what’s possible and stay limited to what’s common or “realistic” — I’ll hop on the computer for a few minutes and welcome her into our community right then and there.

 

When you’ve built the boundaries and know how to keep them, it’s ok to make an exception here and there!

 

And today, today was an exceptional day. 

 

Excited to welcome our newest member into Legacy Leadership Institute and to watch how far and how fast she’ll get to where she wants to GROW!