My Life After Retail

A few weeks ago I was listening to my favorite radio host, Colin Cowherd, and he had a segment comparing quality of life to ambition.  During the segment he was illustrating those individuals who are extremely ambitious and will do anything to “move up” in their occupation.  They will sacrifice location, loved ones, time, and anything else along the way just to get to the next level of employment.  He then went on to talk about those who desire a high quality of life but are not as ambitious.

It is very hard to want to move up quickly and still have a high quality of life.  I can honestly say I was Mr. Retail when I began my one and only full time job (I hope to never have a full time job again!).  I would go in on my days off, I would come in early and stay late.  When I got home I constantly thought about ways to increase profits.  When I wasn’t working I would take my girlfriend at the time to other retailers just to see what they were doing.  I sacrificed many quality aspects of my life in an attempt to move up quickly.  The most important qualities of life I sacrificed were relationships and time and I am glad I got out as quickly as I did.

With that being said I now realize that finding a happy medium between being ambitious and seeking a high quality of life is what is right for me.  As most of you know I am extremely excited and devoted to increasing the readership of Subprime Blogger.  With that, I have realized that more “excess” time and effort put into the website sometimes burns me out.  A few weeks ago I explained that I can usually get my work done in three hours a day.  Once I have completed my work I have the ability to do as I please.

I have created a fitness plan that allows me to do between three to four hours of fitness activities a day.  These activities include yoga, mountain and road biking, working out, cardio, and squash.  Obviously, with a significant amount of time, I can expand this list but as of right now this is where I stand and I absolutely love it.  By the end of the day my body is physically tired and my mind has not wandered in the ways it used to.  For me this is one of the many perks of being a professional blogger and I would not trade it for any job in the world.

Quality of life versus ambition is something that is hard for many young professionals.  It seems that after a few years of working hard many people understand that they cannot sacrifice everything in their life for their job.  Sometimes it is too little too late and I hope this has not happened to you and I hope it never will.  Take the time to call loved ones, take the time to go for a three mile run and most importantly take the time to find out the things in life that make you happy and do them as much as you can!