What are the Rules?

Finding our passion may be easy. Putting restrictions or rules on that passion is difficult. We are told to find our passion. We are encouraged to pursue our passion. We are told to dedicate ourselves to it. What happens when we go to far. The difference between passion and vice can become obscured if we don't establish boundaries. I'm not discouraging people to find their passion and follow it, but we have all seen that going overboard with our passions can have negative effects on our lives.

A simple video game can provide a person with entertainment and release from stress in their lives. That same video game can begin to demand vast amounts of your time and cause you to neglect other responsibilities in your life. Many parents combat this with making rules about video games. They may set a time restriction, or monitor the type of games being played and may even cut out video games all together as consequence for failing to perform other responsibilities.

As adults in business we can an analogy out of video games. We are the kids, the video games are our business and unfortunately we are also the parents responsible for setting the rules. Allowing a child to set their own rules can sometimes benefit them but other times they may abuse the system. We are the same, we benefit from controlling how much time we spend on our business and what our responsibilities are, but we can abuse the system. In this abuse we may be sacrificing meaningful family time, neglecting other responsibilities or allowing debt to get out of control.

So how do we set our own rules? We can write them down. We can discuss them with family. We can constantly reassess if they are working. Businesses are unique, people are unique; so find your balance and set your rules.