Dominate the competition
Get instant accessThis post was written by Scott Harris: coach, mentor and a speaker at many of Tony’s events – who is a proud father of four.
“Honey, there’s 2 lines!”
Any man who’s ever had their significant other say this to them knows what that sentence means instantly – life is about to change – and it’s never going to be the same again.
When I first heard it I was 39 a long way from where I thought I would be at that age, and asking myself the question…”Can I afford this?”
Fast forward 8 years and I mean FAST forward and I am blessed to have 4 children (I know!), best of all I am married to the kindest, smartest, funniest, prettiest, sexiest person I have ever met in my entire life. Happily together now for 12 years, I have managed to create a successful business, I have reasonable health and I adore my family; which means, for the most part, we seem to be making it all work! And looking back here’s what I have learned…
I know the temptation (and cultural conditioning) is to want to provide ‘the very best’ for our children. To have a big home, and a new car, and send them to the ‘best school’, and do all the ‘right’ thing. I know we want our children to learn a second language, study advanced math and science, take music lessons, and play soccer, little league and take dance classes.
As fathers, it’s in our nature to want to provide, to build, to protect and take care of our tribe. And so we go to work! HARD work!
We push ourselves, stretch ourselves, put ourselves right on the very edge of financial suicide in order to appear to make things look good, or ‘do the right things’. We work more hours than we should, take on more clients than we can, stress and worry more than our bodies can handle – all under the guise of wanting to be a perfect father and a good provider. And sadly, there are consequences for those habits.
