Daryl Wood's Blog

In the grand scheme of life it wasn’t that long ago that I thought I could focus completely on my “work” and leave my personal troubles behind. Owning a growing company gave me plenty of opportunity to spend lots of hours away from home doing lots of work because I was building a company. It made sense and it made me feel satisfied. I was getting lots done and I really liked organizing and managing the business. In fact, I really liked working “in” the business as much as I liked all the other aspects of it.

It wasn’t unusual for the staff to find me on the top of a ladder filling up the hopper with Styrofoam packing peanuts early in the morning. And I had reasons to stay late and work weekends too. All the administration stuff and the need to satisfy my “move things around” genes. It was an exciting time and I was certain I was on the right track. I could justify every minute I invested in my business and more often then not, I believed that if I didn’t do “it”, who would?

Then one day a strange thing happened. I landed in the local hospital with severe abdominal pain. The only relief was a well placed shot of the powerful drug Demerol. That’s what saved me for the next week as I completely zoned out in a hospital bed not caring about anything other than comfort and sleep. After two weeks of bedrest and examinations it was determined that there was in fact nothing physical wrong with me. Huh?

The diagnosis was stress. Stress? I thought I was happy. Maybe a little overworked but really, I loved my work and things in my life seemed generally good. At least that was what I had been telling myself for months.

What I had ignored (maybe even denied) was that my life was so unbalanced. Family time, health issues, friendships had all taken a backseat to my driven focus on my business. Surprisingly, during the two weeks in the hospital everything I thought I had to do got done – by someone else. And the few things that didn’t, were nowhere near as important as taking care of myself.

I realized then and have continued to pay attention now to the importance of recognizing that it’s all connected. Our work, our play, our professional lives, our personal lives. All of it. What happens in one, affects the other. It’s why so many times while coaching executives in leadership we take a detour to sort out something that drifts across our path. I believe it is no accident that an emotionally charged personal issue will torpedo into a career development coaching session. And sometimes it doesn’t! Sometimes it’s the other way around – coaching to resolve a difficult relationship, a health concern or family challenge – is interrupted by a significant workplace upset.

As I write this message I have once again had to reassess the choices I’m making right now to ensure my life is balanced. Somethings “gotta give” and I’m committed to making sure I err on the side of healthy choices.