What I learned from 6 days at the hospital
Two weeks ago my grandpa suffered a major stroke. I drove in the middle of the night to join my family in the emergency room.
For the next six days and nights we sat by his side in a small hospital room. We drank the free coffee and slept in chairs. We laughed, we cried. We hoped for better options.
A week later we said goodbye.
Six days of can teach you a lot. Here are some of the thing I learned:
OBSERVATION: The studio, and my team, can COMPLETELY run the show on their own. I did not show up once in that entire week and everything went JUST FINE without me.
LESSON: When faced with a challenge the team stepped up. I wonder how much I actually slow things down, hold us back or put things on my plate that could be handled competently by someone else?
OBSERVATION: Many, many studio families TRULY love us. The cards, messages, and offers of help were very overwhelming.
LESSON: Sure there are times when families might not be happy with us because Suzy didn’t get in the front row or Sarah did’t get to the next level. But, when the rubber meets the road, families will go to bat for you because they love you. Crisis can bring out the best in people.
OBSERVATION: When you are at the end of your life, YOU WILL NOT wish for another day at the office. You will wish for more time with your family.
LESSON: Make more time for things of lasting value…relationships, family, and faith. Notice I didn’t say “find time”. You cannot “find time”, you have to MAKE it.
I you know me, you know that I like to make goals. The day I said goodbye to grandpa, I made some NEW goals:
- To call my parents and grandparents every week. To be home for bedtime and dinner with my kids.
- To host dinner for my extended family on a regular basis–A real sit down dinner with conversation and all the fixins’.
- To take a vacation with my family. Just family, no work.
- To use the profitable running of my studio to make these goals possible for not only myself, but also for my employees.
- To cut my students a little more slack if they miss rehearsal for a family event.
What can you do TODAY to move closer to your goal of owning a business to WORKS for your family? I’d love to hear from you!