Money is not the only measure of success.

I am sure you heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs that motivate our behavior, in which Abraham Maslow laid out a human’s needs – from the physiological, to safety, then love and belonging, on to esteem and finally self-actualization.  A little too esoteric for you? Let’s make it more personal.

So, where are you in that hierarchy? Let’s assume for a minute that you have just sold your business, or come into money beyond your current needs…

If you have now passed through the mind-numbing process of a successful sale of your company and the money is in the bank, enough to satisfy your needs, if not much more, then you have arrived at the point where you can think about love, belonging, esteem and self-actualization.

But wait, there’s more.  More to look forward to.  And that is the subject of this short insight.

The cycle of life in business

During our business formation years, we pay much more attention to our growing enterprise than we know we should, surely at the expense of family and community. There are few exceptions – few among us who have built businesses and kept that work-life balance in check in the process.

[Email readers, continue here…] So, if that day does come when you have sold the business or come into a financial windfall, I propose that there are few times in life when the opportunity opens to look outward, to participate in charity events, extended family vacations, community boards, and even coaching other entrepreneurs.

Work-life balance: a new perspective

If you ever have that opportunity to experience the simple power of having few personal worries, you will have known the freedom of choice that allows you to reinvent yourself, dividing your attention between people and organizations outside of your previous circles.

How empowering.  And how many organizations need management skills and relationships such as those you could bring, along perhaps with a new focus upon philanthropy.

Back to Maslow, stretching his concept to include financial comfort…  Beyond some point, whatever that is for you, money is not the only measure of success.