Since I first visited Europe as a sixteen year-old, I’ve dreamed of a stint living overseas. The (relatively) warm temperatures and cultural differences of Spain appealed to me above all others but the dream started to fade as the realities of owning and running two businesses took hold. At twenty four I found myself working up to 70 hours a week with a day completely free from work a rarity.
At the beginning of the year one of my best mates from a simpler high school time planted the idea of six months living in Whistler in my mind. Snowboarding every day sounded pretty good but I had businesses keeping me home. I can’t put remember what triggered it, but one day I had a realisation that if owning my own business didn’t let me do what I truly wanted to do, what was the point?
Two months in
Nearly two months has passed since I put a pause on life back in Australia to take up this crazy life snowboarding all day and working a healthy amount in the afternoons and evenings. Best yet, I have entire days off without thinking of work.
It’s a funny old world here. I travelled to the other side of the world and there’s more Australians here than Canadians. The thing is that there’s no-one going through the motions. EVERYONE is here to do what they love. For some, that’s partying but for most of us it’s to wake up tired, head out cold and snowboard or ski the best mountains in the world. As the video in my post What If Money Was No Object? explained, it’s all about passion.
Living in Whistler is quickly teaching me that living wild and free is bloody good! It’s making me think of work in a completely different way. Back home my first priority was how much I was enjoying what I was creating, followed by income and trailing distantly was work/life balance. With every day that goes by, I feel myself reevaluating how much I was working for what I was getting out of it.
Here’s a question that I’ve been pondering for the business owners out there
If you could work 40% less but the consequence was 20% less profit, would you do it?
That’s the question that I’ve been asking myself lately. So much of the time and energy we put into business goes to covering our commitments, whether they be staff wages, rent or a big advertising budget.
I think my 2013 will be about having an efficient life and making the most of what I’m doing. I need to focus on cutting the crap and using my time on things that are going to make me happiest, most relaxed or more successful.
As I read over this post before I press the magic blue Publish button and send this post into the interwebs, I laugh at how it seems like I’ve got problems. In reality life was amazing back home and is just as amazing (if not more) on my Canadian adventure.
I guess at the end of the day we all need a theory to work on and learn from.