Webinar Q&A - Primary Aims and Choices

Primary Aims and Choices 

One outstanding participant in the webinar sent me a personal email.
I enjoyed reading about the choices she made for her family.
Yet, she is looking to build a business that satisfies HER primary aim.
I know what she feels. I made those choices too.
Here is her email about her experience with life and work balance.
And my response.

K writes:
Hello Mr. Chiarella,
It's so nice to hear from you. I'm going to watch your presentation (again) so that I can take good notes.

I was thinking about you and your beautiful triplets a few days ago because I have a set of twin daughters who changed my life. I took a step down from Corporate America about eight years ago. I got tired of being the first one to drop off my twin daughters at the daycare and the last one to pick them up from the daycare each and every day. That's when guilt, fear, anger, and frustration manifest themselves.
I would love to stay connected with great leaders like you.

Thank you so much for sharing the slides and freebies. Yes, I received the pdf files. Your webinar was one of the best this year.

Best Regards, K

My response:
Dear K,

You made my day.

My daughters turned 31 this past June.
They are part of our daily lives, even though they work in another country.
We talk weekly and still work and play together.
This past January, the whole family ran the Disney Donald Duck Half Marathon:
Fourteen weeks of training and ten days in Disney after the race.
What I love more is that they constantly ask for our advice on life planning, financial planning, careers, relationships, traveling, etc.
We are part of their lives because we made sure we were part of theirs when it mattered during those early years.

I must say I do not believe in this work-life balance mantra.
I don't mean to say that work is not essential or that life takes the front seat always.
I think about work and life because I do not have to balance one over the other.
It is that we have choices in life and at certain times.
We base our choices on our primary aims.
When we make choices this way, life becomes more focused and purposeful.
It's not about work or life. It is about living life to the fullest.

Yes, we need to support our families. We are business people.
So many times, I have worked with owners that work 24/7.
I was one of them. Like you, I felt something was wrong.
My clients may not say it out loud but then can sense something is not correct.
They would tell their families that this work or project is too important. They don't have time.
Or they would say, "I told this client I would be there," even if it conflicts with a family event.

To add to this work culture, we have constant shouting from society and the media.
They tell us that success in our topsy-turvy world is about money.
Oh, look at that person and their house. They are successful.
Look at that person. She is such a prominent CEO of her business.

And I see this quite a bit,
"Wow, how important. He has to work on vacation."

It is about choices.

I love what you chose at your crossroads.
Thank you for the photos of your beautiful twins.
Their smiles say it all.

I can only guess that your daughters love that they are number one.
You may not feel their love and attention all the time today.
But, when you look back as I have, you know.

You have made me double my efforts to share my journey with others.
I am glad that it resonates with you.
I feel on top of the world that I helped you.
You made my day.

I look for ways to help entrepreneurs like yourself with some ways to create more life, more purposefully living.
Yet, these methods can also build your businesses. It starts from our primary aims in life.

Thank you for your kind words.
Enjoy your family.
They have an exceptional parent.
Domenic