A few months back, my dad told me he was going to quit working on Sunday’s and instead take a day of rest. I remember thinking how great that was for him and how impossible it would be for me. We’re talking about an entire day that could be spent working on building the business here. So I carried on working two hours every week night and eleven hour days every weekend. It was up at 5 am and work work work all day long. And we’re not talking the whistling kind of work, we’re talking veins shooting out of my forehead. My entire world was business and nothing else mattered. No time for family and friends, exercise, eating decent meals, cleaning up, sleeping in, or having a split second of fun. My eye was looking through a narrow tunnel at the prize and I could not allow myself to lose momentum. I could not fail! Everything and everyone I care about was outside this tunnel as I pushed myself to reach the other side. My stress levels were sky high, I was completely miserable, and a couple weeks ago I finally crashed! For a good visual, picture me rocking back and forth in the fetal position, sucking my thumb, as you repeatedly kick me in the groins while laughing at my girlish figure. I crashed pretty hard!

Now the crash has subsided and I am in the process of picking myself up off the floor and rebuilding, which makes me a bit like the Six Million Dollar Man, only on a much tighter budget. The passed week I’ve been reading the book Stress Management for Dummies which my girlfriend bought me a while back but ironically I was always too busy and stressed out to read. After taking one of the tests in the book and finding my stress levels to be in the EXTREME range, I realized it was time for a change. I had to ask myself: is the business that important? Is it worth killing myself over? Is it worth giving up everything good around me? Obviously it isn’t and now I am taking steps to relax and de-stress myself on a regular basis. My eyes have been opened and my surroundings are becoming visible again. Stress levels are getting back to the comfortable green zone and my mind is clearing up. Now that things are in perspective and my priorities are back in line, the business is really not as important as I once thought. It used to be everything, now it’s just something. Not to say I won’t continue to go after it because I will, just at a lesser intensity. Future happiness is not worth killing myself today.

I guess I’ve had a bit of an epiphany and am realizing that I take myself and life in general way too seriously. I take little pleasure in the little things in life and my expectations are off the charts. It’s time for me to start enjoying life again and have some fun. Take up some new hobbies, travel more, spend more time with family and friends, and basically just live a little more. This isn’t to say my ambition and business dreams are going to die out, far from it. It just means I’ll be taking my expectations down a notch and finding a better balance between my business and personal life. It’s time to appreciate the space between a bit more. It’s time to spend a little more time in the present and a little less in the future. Not just for me but for the business as well. I’ve found that putting too much of myself into the business actually hinders potential for success. It makes me miserable and reduces the quality of my work. It robs me of inspiration, motivation, and creativity. Taking breaks from the business and getting out in the world will open up doors of possibility for me and who knows what/who I’ll find out there to help me fly this thing.

Long story short, I’ve decided to follow my dad’s lead and take breaks from the weight of the world more often. Sundays are now a work-free zone around here as it is going to take a strong and healthy Zack to build a strong and healthy business. The trickiest part is going to be finding that balance between an ambitious, work-a-holic, stress cake focused completely on the future and a fully content, happy go lucky, carefree hippy living completely in the here and now. Wish me luck.