Time after time

Well, summer is over. Wasn’t that fun!?!?

Probably just made you sneak a glance down at this issue’s folio. No, don’t worry. It’s still May.

However, in the publishing world we started discussing some of the topics in this issue back in San Antonio during February’s Golf Industry Show 2018. We began picking people’s brains and gathering some expert insight on the big spring and early summer topics, and what’s most appropriate to share in the issue. When you work that far in advance you try not to avoid the Chicken Little approach to journalism – stories like “Winterkill Will Ruin Your Life” or “Turf Maintenance With No Labor.” Instead, we temper what we think we know with what our industry friends in the field are beginning to see or have seen in the past.

So, right now, we’re finalizing late-summer and fall editorial topics and beginning to put some thought on the end of the year. Wait, did someone just schedule a pre-GIS 2019 meeting?

I suspect many of you also approach your business year in sort of the same way. From a traditional turf and personnel management standpoint you carve up the year into bundles of months, organized from “brain melting” to “yeah, I could go on vacation then.” And similarly, you do all you can to avoid the onslaught of stress by preplanning out at far as possible, allowing you to anticipate and react, dodge and weave, as judiciously as possible for when your job calls for it.

Unfortunately, when we look back – whether it’s postseason or year-end – what we see is often less than satisfying. Instead of finding a linear start and finish, we’re staring at a gelatinous blob of memories float around with no discernable cohesion or form and the thought: This is no way to gelatinous live.

It doesn’t have to be that way. There are steps we can take to allow us to get more satisfaction out of our work and personal lives. It’s OK to want to improve your overall quality of life and continue to be successful at the job you love. Bob Epperly is a former Exxon manager turned life coach who works with people to get their lives out of tailspins. Epperly offers some great insight on how to begin recognizing and correcting your lifestyle imbalance.

It’s never enough. While professional ambition is admirable, it can’t run your life. If it does, no matter how much you accomplish it’ll never be enough. Instead, your left with an unfulfilled life and feeling that you missed out.

Communicate. Make this a priority. Stop and really communicate with those around you. And, most importantly, just listen. Our relationships are what ground us in life, and these can improve exponentially via some one-on-one communication.

Accept who you are. Is the world ready for you – the good, the bad and the ugly? Well, they won’t if you haven’t. Remember that it’s OK to be you, and it’s not to trade off your own self-worth to accommodate other.

Remember, at the end, no one ever wishes they had more time for work. It’s good to have goals and to focus on a career that helps define you. However, don’t get lost in it.