I work too much to have a life
Enough is enough! Something has to change right now!
That’s what I thought back at the beginning of 2016. If something didn’t change within a few months I will give up and quit.
From the outside my life looked pretty cool and exciting. More than 20 years ago I took a big step in my life and started an adventure, turned my hobby into a profession, emigrated to Spain and made the Costa del Sol in southern Spain my new home. I learned new languages, adapted to different cultures and many other things. But let’s start at the beginning …
The beginning
With a degree in agriculture and in teaching in my pocket and a working experience of 5 years in Marketing in Sales, I decided that there was „too little driftwood in my life” and that I needed a change and new challenges.
Scuba Diving was my hobby, something I really loved, so I moved to Marbella in Southern Spain to open my own diving center.
Living in one of the best climatic locations in the world – in Europe´s California – in an area next to the sea and close to the mountains, where it’s always warm and the sun is shining more than 300 days a year and people from all over the world spend their holidays, that was really tempting.
Since I had no experience in running a business and guiding employees as well as speaking the county’s language well, the first few years were very challenging and sometimes a bit difficult.
But where there is a will, there is also a way! And that was what needed to be found to be successful.
The diving industry boomed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Everyone who wanted to be “In” had to learn to dive. Diving was a trend sport and in high demand, but there was no professionally run diving school on the Costa del Sol.
Where there is a need, it has to be satisfied … that’s what I thought and we got started…
Within a few years, we were the number 1 dive center in southern Spain; a place where people wanted to learn to dive and to continue their diving education.
The turning point
From 2008 onward came then the big trend downward. The economic crisis has caught the tourism sector in Spain pretty hard. My sales figures went down every year … while cost was increasing at the same time…
I work too much to have a life
At the beginning of 2016 I took a look at my life and discovered that as a businessman I was a prisoner of my company.
I realized that I work too much to have a life!
I worked 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week for about 10 months a year. I never had time for anything, could not really enjoy life and my life was just working, eating, sleeping, working, eating, sleeping…
That could not really be everything a life has to offer!
After many years, even the most beautiful job in the world can become a bit boring and you get very close to a burn-out. If you realize that you have no time for anything, no social life and cannot care about friendships, no real hobbies outside of your job, and then often you do not even have enough money to really enjoy life in the little time you have left… in my case that was 2 months at the end of each year.
Hey hey here is something wrong! There must be more in life than just work!
A different way to enjoy life
During my time as a dive school owner, I met many interesting people; a lot of ordinary people, like you and me, millionaires, billionaires, jet set from many parts of the world, pop stars, actors, entrepreneurs and people who were just around 35 years old and answered on my question “What are you doing in life?” Nothing! I am retired and enjoy life! I have enough and do not need to work anymore!
How does that work?
I’m not even 40 years old and already have everything I need to enjoy live. I do not lack anything and I have complete time and financial independence and freedom.
This lifestyle has made me very curious, and I then focused on finding out on how to achieve time and financial freedom through a passive income.
I found out that the successful people of the world have clear goals that they want to achieve and that they work towards. They also have a clear plan on How to reach their goals. Their daily rhythm looks very different than the one of the less successful people. The successful have daily routines that they do not deviate from … even if they do not feel for following them today; they live their lives exactly according to the plan.
None of us is born with a recipe for success in our pockets. Success does not come over night and has also nothing to do with being super gifted, talented or lucky. Everyone has to work for their own success but you can do a lot to make it happen.
In future blog articles, I will keep telling about what makes the successful people of this world different from most people.
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Today my life looks very different. Finally I have time and money enough to enjoy life! I can play tennis in the middle of the day, go to the beach, meet friends and travel wherever and whenever I want.
I found a much better way of living than going to work every single day to a job you don’t like or don’t want to do anymore.
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Well done,!
The blog reflects your passion for professional growth. Keep on going. Coaching and personal development strategies will be always welcomed. Thanks.