It's common for people to suggest to keep your business life and your personal life separate. Why? I've never really understood that. There are 2 fundamental reasons that this doesn't work for me:
1 - When trying to incorporate separate business and personal lives, sometimes people take on 2 different personas. If you're wondering if you have 2 different personas, just ask yourself if people at work would be surprised to know how you spend your weekends. This works for some, but seems like hard work to me.
2 - I believe that truly successful people do not turn on and off like a light-switch. I'm not talking about vacation and downtime, we all need as much of that as we can get. I'm talking about the person that we portray at work. If I portray a trustworthy, high-moral, family man at work...........I can't risk you seeing me out somewhere on the weekend that would make you question that. I can't turn that on and off.
The high-moral, family man thing is only an example......not a suggestion. I actually believe that people, in general, aren't as concerned about what type of person you are/life you lead..........they just want it to be consistent. This is not a message about morals and values.
Also - I'm not suggesting that you invite work connections into your family life. That's an individuals decision whether or not to do that. I am suggesting that the YOU that your family knows, should be the same YOU that your work connections know. Don't separate the two - it's hard work and will create problems for you in the future.
I don't like long posts, so I'm going to keep it at that for now. Future posts on the same topic will discuss:
** I do take it personal when I lose
** We do need to make business decision with our heart, and not just our brain
** There is a time when it's OK to "pretend" you're better than you really are
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