Arianna Huffington saved my life.
No, she didn’t run up out of nowhere to literally push me out of the way of a speeding, runaway train, but she did in a figurative sense. And that runaway train she was saving me from was myself.
Up until today, I lived by the notion that there is no work-life balance. There is only life balance. We have 168 hours in a week; each of these hours is important, so it’s up to you how you want to spend them.
As a husband, father, son, brother, friend, neighbor, teammate and CEO of a growing company, I want to use my hours for showing up for everything and everyone. My parents were Greek immigrants; they could not afford to be away from work to be present in our lives, so it’s important for me to do for my family what they were unable to do for me.
My nine-year-old daughter is a budding artist; I want to nurture her talents and passions. Both my sons are in traveling sports teams; I want to coach their teams and watch them turn into great young men. My wife is my rock, and I want to always be able to show up for her to help her own dreams come true. I want to be there for my father, siblings and friends.
I also want to be present for my Medix team. We are on the verge of becoming a 360-person, $200 million national team that will empower employment for 12,000 talented individuals this year. I want to be present for Medix, so we can continue to cultivate our culture and our core purpose of positively impacting lives. I pride myself in not having any loose ends at the end of a long day. Every night, I have no unopened emails, unheard voicemails or unread texts. My phone is everywhere I go.
How do I do it? What do I sacrifice to make all of it work? My health.
I have been all-in with Medix for 14 years. I go to bed sometime between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., and I am up around 5 a.m. to catch my train. I come to the office sometimes tired and sometimes irritable (or so say my staff). I have had dizzy spells, and over the past 14 years, there were a couple times I ended up in the emergency room with symptoms mimicking a heart attack. Every time, the doctors would tell me that I need to take care of myself – exercise, nutrition and sleep. The reality is, I always walked away feeling blessed that nothing was immediately wrong, yet I was challenged with re-allocating my 168 hours to make the necessary changes in habit.
This is where Arianna Huffington showed up for me.
I was in Boston for the Bullhorn software annual user conference, and Ms. Huffington was the keynote speaker. She spoke about how organizations can leverage engagement to improve relationships and ultimately contribute to business success. She also talked about her new book, "The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life One Night At A Time."
Her speech grabbed my core belief and shook it in a way no doctor lecturing me in an ER ever could.
How can we work 15 hours a day, get six hours of sleep and still expect to be productive? How can we work 15 hours a day, get six hours of sleep and still expect to be healthy?
She made me realize that as a leader, I create the environment. I can lift the room, or I can bring it down. I can bring creativity, or I can bring frustration. If I’m unhealthy due to sleep deprivation and other bad habits, what do you think I’ll bring?
Thank you, Arianna. This was a wake-up call I needed. I have new hope that I can be a great father, husband, son, brother, friend, neighbor, teammate and CEO all while being my best and healthiest self.
Not only am I making this commitment to myself, I’m passing this to my team too. I want every Medix teammate to be happy, successful and fulfilled, and my eyes are finally opened on how to properly do it.
Lastly, thank you for the bookmark designed by your talented daughter! I cannot wait to give it to my talented daughter, because I know it will inspire her even more to pursue her dreams of becoming an artist.