It’s about time I made a personal blog update, so here it is…
I haven’t done one for a while, so I want to take the opportunity to let readers know what’s happening in the month ahead. Also, it’s a chance to discuss a few points that have been on my mind recently.
Month Ahead…
Regular readers will have seen the previous post here.
You may have also noticed a considerable amount of site updates.
Currently there’s a huge range of updates and developments happening in the background here. We’re quite literally improving everything, which leaves me with a lot more to manage on a day to day basis. This is why I haven’t been quite so active on social recently. Fitting the website in around trading is challenging enough.
The changeover in racing seasons this month always spits out a few unknowns as well. These unknowns are often expressed within the betting markets as new horses and horses that have not run for a while reemerge, bringing the odd gamble with them. Finding time to manage all these aspects as well as personal investments is tricky, even with extra staff.
Which leads me on nicely to something I want to discuss after recent comments both online and in the physical world…
Work Life Balance:
This month I’ll reach the ripe old age of 32, a scary thought!
How I celebrate that I don’t yet know, although I doubt it’ll be sober (and hopefully not in the UK).
When I first set out to trade the markets on Betfair, I simply wanted freedom, maybe a little extra money, of course. But the main thing was not having to answer to a boss or work extremely long hours. Over time, things have changed a little for me in that area.
I’ve realised that it wasn’t necessarily the working that I didn’t like, but more the fact of I was doing something I didn’t love. Now that I’ve found success on the exchanges with the website and in other areas of life, I feel a little different. I’d even go as far as saying most of the things I do don’t even feel like work.
Which means, at points, I do more than the average person would. I have noticed there seems to be a trend that follows this; as I do more, others telling me I should be doing less. It’s quite a bizarre thing to witness in many ways.
Having uploaded a lot of new videos to the YouTube channel last month, there was quite an influx of people telling me I should calm down and not do so much.
Apparently, I need to address my work/life balance.
The Facts…
Maybe some people think that I produce and update all the YouTube videos and content on this site, something that is simply not true.
But either way, what is that all about? Why do people feel the need to spend their time telling me to do less? It’s not the first time I’ve encountered things like this in life. It reminds me vividly of when I first started to learn and trade the Betfair markets.
People around me, particularly friends and family, would spend a lot of time telling me that I was going to burn myself out. But the truth is, it was the best thing I ever did.
So I’ve no intention of stopping now…
But before I go, I’d like to ask you, the reader, a question, if you can leave a comment below: what does work/life balance mean to you?
13 thoughts on “Personal Update: Managing April (+Work Life Balance)”
In my 40’s and 50’s I got the work/life balance wrong, completely. It cost me 2 marriages, shame really both ex’s were good housekeepers they kept both houses. The problem was I was working all hours with keeping both families in a grand comfort zone and working for my retirement. So as Caan says it is so important to get work/life balance right so that it suits everyone your involved with, and money BTW isn’t the be all. Now in retirement I can look back and see where I went wrong but my circumstances have changed and to be frank I’ve never been happier. So always remember ‘the others’ and do not fall into the same work ethos I had, you will regret it. Work hard, work smart, be smarter, set family time aside, but above all else be happy and look after your loved ones more than ever.
Hi Wayne,
Totally agree with giving family time 100% too. It’s a funny one as there is a balance, but everyone’s is different. The bizarre bit comes when it seems as though some people are just trying to impose their ethos on you… does that make sense? I get that a bit too now. However, I’ve never been happier than I am now!
Caan
Hi Caan
Its a tricky question as most of the people never get for one reason or other to the part you did.
“Doing what they love and making more then average”. ( good for you)
Someone (cant remember the name) said once “Chose what you love to do and you will never have to work a day in your life”. When you do what you love it does not feel like work and the more you do of it the more happier you feel. When you feel happy you want to spread that around you …..
But many less lucky ones doing all their life 9 to 5 jobs, which they hate and if they work the same amount of hours as you do and more, when it comes to health and balance, the stress of doing what they don’t love will affect every other part in that person life.
My believe is that as long as I feel content and keep an eye on where I’m heading in life and Im not afraid to take the risk of jumping into the unknown and able to listen my internal voice rather then external voices of people around me telling me what I should do or should not do, one will be just fine.
However everybody is different and what I feel is the right balance for me others may say ” you are mad” or something else.
However what is important to realise and maybe what the loved ones and friends are referring to is the health that can run away if we forget to feed our bodies or take a rest even from a job that we love. Staring on the computer all day without a regular breaks for long time can create all kind of health issues. I had many people coming to me with carpal tunnel syndrome, neck, shoulder back and other problems caused by sedentary life style. Ok. I should stop here.
Hey, great comment! thanks…
“Chose what you love to do and you will never have to work a day in your life”. – was Chris Evans wasn’t it? Before he had the breakdown… haha.
Totally get all of that, health is very important. Thanks!
For me having the freedom to work from anywhere in the world (mostly) would be amazing. I am engaged with a wonderdul fiancee and little boy but going off to work the night shift means I miss alot of the day sleeping. I only trade with £5 stakes for now and get around a 15% return per race scalping (thanks for the video pack btw) but if I can do similar with £50 Id be making more than enough to work when I want and devote more time to he family.
Family is everything!
Hi Adam,
Sure, the flexibility to do what I wanted was a bit motivator for me when I started out too!
Caan
I have a tattoo that reads “tomorrow is not a given certainty”.
Money has no value until you wish to spend it,so get your life in prespective.
I trade to give me freedom.I spend the winter in Thailand and the summer in the uk.One of my main reasons for trading is because I wanted to be a digital nomad.
Cutting words right there, Trevor. It’s a funny one… tomorrow is never a given, but I also think many spend their life living for tomorrow, to then only find out a decade later they could have sorted themselves out more if they had thought further into the future.
I’m only 20 so I have far less life experience compared to otters however I think people should pursue their passion before the paycheque. Spending time with your family is vital as you may have a job which if you died would simply replace you however you can’t replace family. My dad and grandparents have both admitted to me that they wish they took risks when younger instead of pleasing others. One of the best things my dad says to me is the pain of regret far outweighs the pain of risk. Ultimately if you sacrifice when younger you can more than repay your family long term. Just my view hope it helps!
Yeah, otters do get about a bit… Fooken slags !
Hi Caan,
I’m at the begging of of this journey (having had a bit of a dabble last year when I had far too much going on to have any chance of success) so my work life balance at the moment is essentially day job all day then evening trading.
I’m into day 10 today riding the highs and lows – good % profit at the masters, steady but taking too many risks on the pre race horses chasing profit and then disaster yesterday continuing to allow a trade to go in play trying to avoid taking a loss and ending up wiping 66% of the small bank out.
After seeing some of your self reflections in your blogs I decided to start my own personal diary of progress, good, bad and ugly.
Hopefully creating a diary of what I did and how it felt will stop me from making stupid mistakes again.
I’ve been a bit hypocritical in that I’ve studied a lot of yours and others videos intently, and also refreshed myself on your racing guide that I bought last year when I dabbled, paying close attention to all your advise apart from ‘not going in play’ because I didn’t want to take a loss. Yesterday really drove home that not taking the small loss has almost blown my bank and wiped out the work and luck I’ve had over the last 9 days.
A valuable lesson and it seems apt that your pondering work life balance as I work a full time job and since starting recently trade evenings and weekends filling most of my free time. I’ve been trading time to gain money and knowledge. I’ve learnt some valuable lessons but the small amount I’ve built up over 9 days was wiped out in under 9 minutes.
Not a great balance in terms of time v money, but hopefully worth every second in terms of time v knowledge. That one bad decision has probably taught me a priceless lesson.
Thanks for all the videos and posts, really good of you to take the time and share your hard earned knowledge.
Hi Caan.
Really good post.
My take on this is f**k average, people have settled for mediocrity in our society and people think that anyone who tries to improve their life is working too hard or whatever. If people want to work 9-5s stuck with paying liabilities their whole lives without any freedom then go ahead. To me that’s insane. Freedom is the most important asset yet most people forget this and live pretty mundane lives IMO.
Keep doing your thing Caan, all content you put out is appreciated and very motivational.
Cheers man
Work life balance is a big thing for me. As long as you have your family you should just work enough for the things you need and want to do. For me that’s holidays and making memories. In today’s world we are fed all this stuff of owning a flush house and nice car with a stunning bathroom and kitchen etc which means majority of people are spending their whole lives in work for material things and forgetting what’s important in life. Too many people are trying to live a lifestyle that is really out of their real financial limit yet they push themselves to breaking point to keep up with the Jones.
Time is the most important commodity around. Use it wisely as if money was so important why can you get it so easily through lenders and pay day loans cards etc. You never get ur time back so enjoy it and spend it with the ones close to your heart. Create memories not a world of material things that mean nothing.
Enjoy life peeps