Today my shop closed at 5:30. I didn't leave until 6:30. No good reason either. I chatted with my manager for awhile, answered the phone and let a good customer come in and use my tire machine because his broke. Then I chatted with him for awhile.
Then my wife called. Uh-oh!
I let my business control me. That is not good for me, my marriage or my family. It certainly isn't a recipe for growth.
This is a head trash thing that starts with fear. Fear that a customer will leave because I'm not "nice." Or fear of a mutiny from my employees because I'm not "carrying my weight."
In high school my basketball coach always said, "Control the ball. Don't let it control you." To do that you need to practice dribbling, shooting and rebounding. Then you can control the ball and that's how you win. But you can't do that without deliberate, repetitive practice. Same goes for business.
Practice is boring and hard. It is also effective. I think we all need to practice controlling our business (or job) so that it doesn't control us. Anything other than that is unhealthy physically and emotionally.
