This is excellent blog to make us all think about who we are, what really matters and how to get there. It is the essence of Total Leadership Connections, our program for executives, high potentials and all in business who want more out of life than just financial success. Read this and give someone you know a hug, or roses, or at least appreciation for being in your life; you’ll feel better.

Why You Should Go Home Early

by: Jeff Haden writer on BNET

My client called me the night before he committed suicide.

Several days prior his business offices had been raided by investigators, and while he shared few details, he was desperately concerned about what would happen to him, his
employees, and his company.  The next morning, alone in a home he rarely visited, he shot himself.

I often wonder what he thought about in his last moments. Certainly he regretted some of the business decisions he had made.

Yet I feel certain he regretted personal choices he had made.  We had grown to be friends and he could at times be startlingly — even  uncomfortably, at least for me — frank.  He sometimes talked about how  he wanted a family and children he could spoil and cherish.  He talked  about finding friends who liked him for himself and not for his
connections or influence or money.

He talked about his wife who, years ago, had committed suicide and whether he without knowing bore some responsibility.

That’s why I think he thought mostly about choices; choices he desperately wished he had made differently.

If you knew you only had minutes left to live, what would you think  about?  You wouldn’t think about work or business.  It’s a cliche, but  true nonetheless:  No one on their deathbed regrets not spending enough  time at work.  Would you really think about money you never earned, or  projects you never completed, or companies you never started?  Would
those be your regrets?

Would those be the types of choices you would want back?

Of course not.  You would think about the people you love and how you would have spent more time with them.  You would have told them, over  and over, just how much they meant to you.  I think those are the  decisions he thought about in his last minutes.  At heart, regardless of mistakes he made, I think he was a good man.  Flawed, like all of us,
but still a good person.

I tried the best I could to express his love for family and friends  in his eulogy.  Still, I sometimes wish I could find a better, more  lasting way to honor his memory.

There is a way.  But I need your help.

Today, go home early.  Not tomorrow and not some other day.  Today.
At the latest, leave right on time.  Projects and contracts and  promotions and money and glory will be there waiting for you tomorrow.
Go home, find somewhere quiet, and sit with your spouse or significant  other and tell them how much they mean to you.  Set aside any baggage or resentment, take off any emotional armor you wear, think about why you  fell in love in the first place, and speak from your heart.

Then hang out with your kids.  Talk to them.  Praise them.  All your kids want is your attention.  Attention is the easiest and the best gift you can offer.

Or call a friend you’ve lost touch with.  Swallow your pride if necessary and reach out.  Take the first step.

Above all, live today differently.  Someday we will all probably wish we had made a few different choices along the way, but at least we  won’t wish to change anything about today.

I think my client — and more importantly, my friend — would like that.