A good friend of mine, Sara, once said this about my website:

"You write well. But I only see stories about your work. I'd like to see more about your life on your blog."

Thank you, Sara :) That may well be a valid point. Sometimes we fall into the danger getting so caught up with work that we neglect everything else that life has to offer.

I find this very common among career-driven people: They know what they want, like a better lifestyle, a better income, and a better car; and sometimes they want those to enjoy their lives together with the people that mattered. They also know that to get where they want to go, they've got to do things they don't necessarily want to do, like work. So they work long hours, do that extra sale, work extra time to get that project, meet extra clients. Its a string of exhausting, arduous tasks, but they know they want to get it over and done with soon, once and for all. They call this delayed-gratification: suffering first, and enjoying later.

That kind of lifestyle sometimes leave us with very little time for "smelling the roses". We no longer have time for our families, our girlfriends, for playing, or for chilling out with the guys or the girls on a saturday night. And before we know it, we're left all alone with nothing but our work. The fun's gone out of life now, and from now, 2 things can happen: We either give up on our dreams, or we succeed in our careers but lose the meanings to our life; like having so much money but not being able to find joy in our life.

It doesn't really have to be a choice between living an life, and making a living.

Here's what an average day is like for me:

Here I am, up at 9am in the morning, and the sun is shining brightly through the window. I'm bed-raggled, my hair is in a mess, I haven't washed my face yet. I make a business call in bed, and my prospect doesn't even know that I'm not even out of my pyjamas yet :)

After a few more business calls over breakfast, I stroll over to check my emails in my bedroom. I also turn on my MSN Messanger to get in touch with my friends and business partners who are also on-line. This is all serious business stuff that I'm doing!

Most of my appointments are in the afternoon, and better yet, over the phone, via 3-way conference calls. Someone wants to talk to me and my partner, Eng Hai, because he or she wants to make an extra $2000-$3000 and get out of the drudgery of ther daily working lives, and we offer to show them how. Its really interesting to get to know people, and the nice thing is that I make a new friend in the end, whether or not we have a business deal.

I do that all from the comfort of my home. And when I feel like it, I drop by to my girlfriend's office to see how she's doing. Then when she's up to it, we'll go for a drink to spend some time together. Sometimes I'll also meet up with my buddies, or my partners, just to hang out.

And thats why friends like Sara hears so much about "work" on my blog: I still do have a life with lots of family and friends, yet my work runs concurrently with it.

Some people try to create a Life with their work, but miss life altogether; yet others try to have a Life, but sacrifice their careers instead. My partners and I, we have the best of both worlds! We have a Life, we laugh about stuff, we hang out with people we like, and still have money coming in! Our life and work has become one, and I feel quite blessed for that.

This reminds me of a book by Robert Natiuk, called "Your Destiny: Your Life and Work become one", which is one of the books that got me started on my own home-based business. Its really good, and if having fun in your life with no compromise is what you're looking for, I highly recommend that you read it :)