Advisors: Addicted to Your Work?

Recently, while on vacation, I broke my rule of staying disconnected. While my son battled the stomach flu and we stayed inside due to the weather, I browsed through social media but then logged into my work email.

During subsequent conversations with my wife, she posed the following question: “Are you addicted to your job?” I threw back a “No, of course not” -- but it got me thinking.

I’m sitting here writing this post at my desk at 8:35 p.m., after working a full day. Yet I also just spent the last three hours eating with my family and baking a birthday cake with my son. I love what I do, but I have determined that I’m not addicted to my job. What I am addicted to, however, is building things.

As early as age 15, I started a Christian social club at my school. As an adult, I have created classes and seminars from scratch; NAPFA Genesis grew out of a personal void in communication with my peers; and now I am building two companies -- and freelancing for two others -- as a result of brainstorming and letting dreams develop.

I love the building process: trials and errors, learning from unsuccessful attempts, basking in the goal of successes and nurturing something out of nothing. If I were more focused on business, I suppose I would be looking at my P&Ls, my profit margins and how much money I could make from my ventures. But deep down, I just want to nurture my passion for growing a firm.

What about you? What keeps you passionate about your practice?

Read more:

• Advisors: Unplug Already
• Building a Practice for the 24-hour Client
• Secrets of 3 Exclusive Study Groups for Advisors