Go home and do nothing

I have something important to share with you married folks with children: consider everyday life realities.

You need two hours to go to work and two and half hours to get back home. This is a terrible and stressful reality for urban dwellers in Manila who have no choice but to crawl through the main city artery called EDSA.

Experts say that when an economy booms, traffic increases. More cars are purchased, more buildings are constructed but road sizes remain the same. Sometimes, I hit the road as early as 5:30 a.m. to avoid traffic yet cars are already flooding the streets and yes, there are impending political campaigns and parades that will soon compete for road spaces.

There are many who do not want to visit Manila. I remember, some of my friends in Bacolod told me this: “Francis, here in Bacolod, when we have to stop our cars in front of the traffic lights waiting for the go signal, we complain and claim that it is already traffic.” I got the same sentiments from my friends in General Santos City and Davao.

Now, we wake up in the morning then we rush to work. We “rush” everything we do.

We have appointments to make, deadlines to meet, and conferences to attend. So we rush through the day and then go home, stressed out and tired but still, there are emails and Skype calls to answer from colleagues in another country with a different time zone. Finally, we grab a few hours of sleep, then wake and repeat the cycle. This is modern day life.

They say that technology will help simplify our lives, but I am not too sure about that. The more technology we have, the better and faster we are expected to perform.

This is why I would like to suggest something that is radical and necessary.

I would like you to consider a certain day in a week when you can go home early and do nothing.

That’s right. Take the afternoon off. Beat the rush hour. Go home and do nothing.

If you really desire a better life, it doesn’t take huge, dramatic overnight change and you don’t have to purchase more apps or use technology to help you. All you need is to do little things differently. But the thing here is that these little things I want you to do will cause such a huge change and improvement in your personal and professional life.

Your business is important. Your career is essential. This is no longer a debatable fact. You need to make sure that your business life and personal life aren’t tangled. Do not use your business as an extension or basis of your personal life. If you succeed in one but fail in the other, there might be damages to your system and eventually, both may suffer.

The people in our personal arena really matter. We practically spend more time at work and outside the home than we do with the people who matter the most to us. This is why I would like you to go home early and do nothing once in a while.

Do everything that can improve your life connections with the people who care for you the most.

Your contracts, proposals and your climb to fame and fortune can wait until tomorrow. For just one day, set your priorities aside and go home early.

Spend time with your kids doing nothing but silly things that make them laugh. They will remember these moments for the rest of their lives. There is another time for sermon. What your kids want from you is your attention and praise. Tell stories. Urge them to tell you their stories. Laugh, reach out and love.

Perhaps, there are relationships to work on; there might be instances that made a family member drift away from you. Use the extra time to reach out. Swallow your pride and strengthen your life. You don’t have to miss all of these; business will be there tomorrow.

Just go home and do nothing. And when you really think about it, it’s not really nothing.

(You can connect with Francis Kong through Facebook at www.facebook.com/franciskong2 or listen to his program called “Business Matters” from Monday to Friday at 8:00 am and 6:30 pm in 98.7 dzFE-FM ‘The Master’s Touch’, the classical music station.)