Why it’s worth letting go a little, no matter how hard it may be

Obviously nothing would have kept Jeremy Colombik from being there for the births of his two children.

But when the nine-year MDRT member from Raleigh, North Carolina, thinks about his work-life balance just a few years ago, before either child was born, he recalls a time when even taking the time to be present for such important events would have been a challenge.

“I was working 24/7; I was doing everything,” he said of the years before he allowed himself to fully trust his business director, who began five years ago and took two years to prove she could handle everything. Not because of anything she did, though; it was the challenge for Colombik, and for many advisors working so closely and extensively in their business, to let go.

“I viewed the company almost like a child itself,” Colombik said of his practice, which he founded in 2007 simply as “myself and a cube.” Yet once he was able to trust his second-in-command — who was initially there to assist in the back office, then was promoted to operations manager, then business director, overseeing the day-to-day — his business grew a lot more quickly than it did before. Now, the company has 15 people operating in three cities.

The benefits, of course, aren’t just professional. In fact, Colombik says his wife has his business director to thank for his current and much-improved balance. That means that now, instead of working 80 to 100 hours each week and being worried about burning out, Colombik can make a priority of being home before his kids go to sleep to read them stories. He can take vacations.

And not feel like he’s working so much that he never sees his family.

For more Whole Person ideas

•        “Well mind and body” (pdf)
•        “Don’t allow negativity” (video)
•        “Whole Person balance quiz” (pdf)

Written by Matt Pais, MDRT Content Specialist