Paradigm check? Who is your boss?

It really is a matter of perspective or as I like to say, it depends on your paradigm. If your paradigm is that you work for someone else, I have a challenge for you. The truth, I believe, is that we really all work for ourselves. We are the CEO of our own life.

I was recently out to dinner with my very independent 88 year young step-mother. In the conversation, she added that taking care of her household was really like running her own business. That is such a true statement, I thought. We are all running our own lives and it's like running a business. Just taking care of our self and our family is a full-time job. And even though we may go someplace to work, the work we do and how we chose to do it is really what will set us apart from others. We don't have to wait for a job appraisal, as we should always know how we are doing. After all, it's our business. And hopefully, it is a business that we are passionate about.

Most Americans don't just have one role or one job but several. I meet moms all the time when I am training that are trying to squeeze in a 6:00am bike or swim class to rush home to get the kids off to school before going to work themselves. I know lots of people that work an extra part-time job for the extra money or just because they love the hobby. And then there are the volunteers that give their time for free just because. Oh, what would we do without volunteers?

Work-life and personal-life all seem to run closer together when you think along the paradigm of working for yourself. Lots of principles are involved in this paradigm including and especially balance, leadership, and focus. "Balance" to get it all done on-time, healthily, with a smile, and to be able to get up the next day and start it all over again. "Leadership" to grow yourself and others while getting superb results. And "Focus" to do more with less by learning, innovating, and constantly improving.

One of my favorite sayings lately is "to figure out what is important to the important people in your life, then go and do it". It sounds funny but when you think about being your own boss, working for yourself, and running your life like it's your own business, there seems to be an opening for this question and the time for the answers and actions that follow.