I’m a big believer in taking some time off to recharge the batteries. I’m not talking 1 day here and there either. If you are anything like me, that really does nothing for me because my mind is still thinking about real estate on that day off. I like to take about 3 weeks off and the perfect time to do that is around the holiday season.
In the past years, I’ve continued to post on my blog during this time but I felt this year I’d take some time off from that as well. So I apologize for the lack of posts lately, but it needed to be done. Even last week I wasn’t really feeling the motivation return so I kept things light.
Taking that time off has really worked and I feel rejuvenated all over again and am ready to take 2012 by storm! It is going to be a tough and my most challenging year to date with my first child coming along at the end of March.
I am not sure what to expect with the new baby. The one thing I’m sure about is my life will change and until I can get into a routine it’s going to be tough to commit time to Investing. It is easy to make excuses and get lazy with my real estate investing business, heck who would blame me right? The opposite is true though, and I am going to come up with a plan of attack this week that will help keep me moving through the challenging time ahead.
For those new fathers (and mothers) out there, what sort of experiences did you have when your baby was first born? Did you completely shut down your investing or did you figure out a way to keep moving forward? I’d love to know
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Comments 7
The biggest thing I have found is that I really force myself to focus on the things that bring the most results with the least effort.
My son was born 3 weeks ago and so we are experiencing this right now. It actually feels pretty good to not be focused on the business 24/7 and still feel like I am producing great results. It wasn’t that hard to cut out all of the “busy” work that was not producing much.
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I’ve had to eliminate much of the “busy work” in the past because of my lack of time, so I should be lean mean and ready to clean (it up) LOL
Hey Scott – I’ve been reading your posts from the beginning and just signed up for your feeds so it’s my first time reading your blog posts in real time.
As a new dad (my daughter’s 1st b-day is actually today) and new investor, it was a challenge to balance a full time J.O.B. and investing part-time with a new born. The only thing I wanted to do after work was rush home to see my daughter. I didn’t really want to think about anything else. With that said, the baby sleeps about 20 hours a day in the beginning so you’ll be able to get some work in. This really gave me the opportunity to prioritize my schedule. After the 20+ hour sleeping days, the baby will still be taking some naps throughout the day and, for my daughter anyway, going to bed early – 7:30. Since adapting to my daughter’s sleep schedule, I haven’t seen much a difference (granted, I’m not going to the gym anymore).
I know one of my challenges was to make sure that I gave my wife enough support and help when she needed it. Sometimes she wouldn’t ask so I would have to ‘read’ between the lines and make a call to the contractor for a progress report instead of driving down to the property. The only roadblock would be if your wife wasn’t supportive of your RE investing, but since I know that’s not the case, you’ll adapt well.
Congratulations to you and your wife and best of luck in 2012.
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Thanks for the sharing your first hand experience Justin! It’s good to hear there will be “some” time while the baby is sleeping. I’m also well aware that I must prioritize the most important things first like my new baby and my wife 🙂 After that my health by exercising and then real estate. At least that’s the order for me.
Take the time off Scott and enjoy your newborn. They are only in each stage for a short time, and you never get that time back once it’s gone. With that being said, you will surely have to make some changes in your schedule. Like Justin said, the baby’s schedule will take care of some of your concerns.
What can you outsource in 2012 so that you have some extra time? Maybe find someone to address your mailings for you? I wold give that some thought.
I agree in your theory on taking some time off. I battle this weekly, I have the same old routine over and over again week after week and feel like my weekends are the same thing as well. It really does get old. I appreciate your post on re charging your battery, I feel it is so important to take a break once in awhile to make sure you are calm and collected for anything that comes your way.
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I do like taking time off from time to time, but I will admit the process of starting back up is a pain. The time off completely kills my momentum and my lazy habits creep back in.