Michael T. Haas - Balancing Your Love of Work and of Family

Michael T. Haas is a devoted venture capital professional and a family man who works to balance his home life with his career. When you care about both your work and your family, and most do, the act of balancing the two can feel overwhelming. How do you push yourself further at work without neglecting your children? How do you make sure that you spend more time with family without slacking on the job? Planning.
                                           
Pros like Michael T. Haas use methods like those outlined below to plan their work/family balance, and you can too:

• Work and Play – Though we live in a world where you can easily bring your work home with you, don’t. Separating work and play makes it easier to balance your family and work lives. When you’re at work, even if you work from home, focus on professional endeavors. When you’re done working, focus on your family.
• Prioritize – Make a list of the top five or ten most important things to you, reorder them to reflect your priorities and then keep this order in mind when approaching your daily life. If speaking with your kids is number one, and getting ahead at work is number three, your work email can wait if your child is talking to you.
• Schedule – Make a schedule that allocates time to the things that you love in a fair manner, whatever that means to you. If you follow your schedule, and modify it as needed, you’ll always spend your time where you want to.

When you’re trying to achieve a work/family balance like that of pros such as Michael T. Haas, remember that it takes time to establish such systems. You will need to learn and make adjustments accordingly, but the payoff is well worth your effort.