Balance (2/23/06)

How in the world do we strike balance in our lives? If someone, anyone, has an answer to that question please let me know...


Dave started his new business/career one year ago and as with any new business venture he needs to devote a lot of time to it. It isn't a matter of he wants to - he NEEDS to in order to get it up and going. He took a 60% paycut in order to do this... so basically the equation looks like this:

time at work = money
HOWEVER
time at work = not time at home.

Is any of this making sense? I'm not sure I can accurately articulate my thoughts on this... He wants to be home to be with me and the girls, but he needs to be working. He's not looking to come home at 3 or 4:00 - he simply wants to be home for dinner most nights of the week (which would be at 6:15/6:30). The problem lies in the fact that the best time for him to make contacts with people is between 4-7.

So how does he strike a balance between doing what he needs to do at work and doing what he needs to do at home (spend time with his kids). The girls go to bed at 7:30, so if he works until 6:30/7:00 he basically comes home and puts them right to bed. But if he comes home in time for dinner he misses out on some important call time.

I don't know what the right answer is. I know that it is a constant struggle for him and I wish I could give him the magic answer. I suppose we could have dinner around 7/7:30 so he can join us, but I really dislike the idea of the girls eating dinner and going straight to bed - I think it is better for them to play a little bit before bed... maybe I need to give up that idea?

In re-reading this I feel it is important to emphasize that he is not trying to make gobs and gobs of money... in other words, he is not working with money as the main goal. But with the job change and the paycut, we are not able to cover our monthly bills. He wants to be able to at least pay our bills (especially before we run out of reserves), so it isn't a matter of we want more, more, more and he is focused on that. Make sense? I just don't want anyone to think he is motivated by money... I don't know - I feel like I'm justifying, explaining, making excuses, blah, blah, blah. I guess most of you who read this know what our situation is and I don't really need to explain it... I'm now talking in circles:)

At any rate... I think balance is a difficult issue in many areas. I find this seems to be my largest question in life - how do I balance this and that? I will try to find time to write more on the subject. But for now - anyone have any ideas on this balance issue?