Bring home sunlight everyday.
Back in 2021, when the world was going to hell in a handbasket, I hired a small business coach to help me navigate the uncharted waters we were facing.
I figured that the biggest problem was my marketing and he was going to give me the magic bullet to suddenly fill my practice with endless amounts of patients (as if that was a cheat code or something)
Little did I know that this coach was going to help me work through the entire scope of my life, not just my business.
It has been said that most business problems are personal problems in disguise.
Wait…what?
You mean that the struggles I am facing in business are due to my personal life.
Yes.
You see, this coach had us work through our habits.
We would have daily calls where each member took time in the chair to be questioned about wins and losses.
What we were fired up about.
What we were depressed about.
In this, unbeknownst to us at the time, our coach was slowly exposing all of our insecurities, especially as they leaked into our business from our personal lives.
One of the major struggles that was common amongst this group of men was a continual level of stress, especially when coming home at night.
Upon further investigation, one of the habits our coach discussed with us went something like this
“Dad sets the tone when he gets home”
What a powerful statement to reflect upon.
This was further expounded upon in a book I was reading this year that made the statement of “bring home sunlight everyday.”
Ultimately, what was being communicated was the premise of how you show up when you get home will dictate how the entire family responds to you.
If you have been driving in traffic and are stressed out, the family will sense it when you walk in.
If you have been on the phone and are distracted, they will sniff it out.
If you had a bad day at work and are carrying it home with you…they will know.
I use negative examples because these are all habits that I had generated over the years.
And when I would “show up” at home, the environment would be an identical reflection of the energy I was bringing with me.
I was the problem.
What a shift in paradigm.
So often we think that the environment is out of our control, but when we realize that the environment we walk into is a direct reflection of the energy and tone we bring with us, everything shifts.
Ever since I became aware of this, I tend to avoid the phone on the drive home.
I tend to actually drive in complete silence.
After a day of serving patients, I have found that I need time in silence to recollect myself to be able to set a tone in which I show up with a little bit of sunlight to my family when I get home.
Maybe you don’t have kids.
Maybe you aren’t married.
Maybe there is no one there to greet you.
However, there is something to be said about the energy you bring with you, especially when you walk into your home. Is it a oasis you walk into or is it one of Dante’s several layers of the inferno? I guarantee you that what ever energy you have habitually brought into that space will dictate how you perceive it.
Maybe tonight, on your way home, remember to set the tone.
Remember…it’s 4:45 AM…we have a long day ahead of us …and if you are walking with me, wherever you are in the world, know that I am praying for you and willfully suffering with you. Also know that at 6:45PM…when I get home – I am going to show up with a little extra sunlight for my wife, 5 kids and two dogs.
Till next week.
