The most important meeting of your day

So I planned the week to have a day at home with the family on my birthday (43 and feeling every day of it), it's been great no travelling no phonecalls (easy when you switch that evil little box off!!). So I crammed as much as I could into the day to make the most of it, then I get a message to say a day in Wilthsire on Friday needs to be pushed back and rescheduled. Now these things happen, so no point getting out of the pram, but the problem is I am now at a loss of what to do with a full day with no agenda! I spent most of the weekend lining everything up so it is a problem free week - and now I have SPARE TIME..........nigtmare. So I tried the obvious thing - can I get a few friends together for golf, but it's started snowing and there is no chance of that happening. So its a genuine empty day, its suddenly made me realise............... I might have forgotten how to take time out !

Without getting too sentimental, at this time of year, it should be a priority to make the most of the break we take for xmas, to make sure that we can enjoy spare time without having our mind still ticking over with work issues floating around in there. I hope that after the year we have all had we should not just have our xams party, but maybe take the opportunity to reassess our work/life balalnce (and if you can't find the balance point - just learn to love your work!! just kidding).

I hope this year will have a lasting effect, not because it may teach us to be more analytical before seizing opportunities and understanding the risks before putting our shirt on an outside bet, but to reset our personal targets. We must realise that we can't keep everyone hanging around waiting for our attention when we get a break in workload...........it rarely comes until its too late.

Heres a thought I was once given - make sure when you arrive home the first five minutes when you get through the door, give your partner & children your undivided attention. They have waited for hours to see you, make sure the phonecall you were on ends before you put the key in the door. Don't say "let me send a quick email. Don't say "just let me just chill out for a minute first".

Make coming home the most important meeting of your day, give it 100%.

Happy Xmas