Good morning.
Stop saving the good parts of your life for after work
I don’t think work needs to be the best part of your life.
Honestly, for most people, I don’t think it should be.
I love what I do. I care a lot about doing it well.
But my family, my health, my friendships and the things I enjoy outside of work matter more.
For a long time, though, I treated those two worlds like they needed a pretty hard line between them.
Work time was for work.
Everything else happened before or after.
I’ve changed my mind about that.
Every Friday morning now, my wife drops our daughter off at school and meets me near my office.
I leave work.
We run about two miles together. Maybe 20 minutes.
Then we go down the street, grab coffee and spend another half hour talking.
That’s it.
Nothing profound.
About 50 minutes.
And it has become one of my favorite parts of the entire week.
Years ago, I would have had a hard time doing it.
I should be in the office.
I’m losing almost an hour.
I’ll do something like that after work.
I’ve gotten older—and hopefully a little wiser—and realized how ridiculous that is.
I’m there before the run.
I’m back afterward.
The building doesn’t burn down.
And those 50 minutes make Friday substantially better.
It also changed something about how I think about work.
Why do we save everything we enjoy for when work is over?
I’ve worked with a leader who loved espresso.
And I mean loved espresso.
He brought a legitimate espresso setup into his office. Machine. Equipment. The whole production.
It became a thing.
He enjoyed it.
People stopped in.
They talked.
They got to know something about him besides his title.
I’ve known leaders who take a walk every afternoon.
Others bring their dog in when appropriate.
Some cook.
Some play music.
Some have a ridiculous candy stash everyone knows about.
The point isn’t espresso or running.
It’s bringing a small piece of the life you actually enjoy into the eight, ten or twelve hours you spend working.
And I think that matters even more in skilled nursing and senior living.
We don’t operate warehouses.
We work in people’s homes.
We’re asking our teams to create warmth, relationships, laughter, familiarity and actual human connection for the people who live there.
That’s hard to create in a workplace where everybody—including leadership—feels like they’re supposed to leave their personality at the front door.
Residents should know things about you.
Employees should too.
Families should see an actual person walking through the hallway, not just THE ADMINISTRATOR speed-walking toward another meeting with a laptop under their arm.
That doesn’t make you less professional.
It makes you human.
Ask Yourself This Today
What’s one small thing you genuinely enjoy that you’ve unnecessarily decided doesn’t belong at work?
Coffee?
A 20-minute walk?
Music?
Eating lunch outside?
Calling your spouse?
Working from the courtyard for half an hour?
Whatever it is, I’m not suggesting you turn Tuesday afternoon into spring break.
Run the community.
Do your job.
Be accountable.
But stop acting like enjoying 30 minutes in the middle of your workday means you aren’t serious about your career.
Nobody gets an award at retirement for having taken the fewest walks.
Work doesn’t have to become the best part of your life.
Bring a few of the best parts of your life to work.
You might enjoy both a little more.
— Kevin | 