Out and about yesterday I heard what I thought was one of the saddest admissions from a professional at his workplace.
The question was, what’s the thing you hate most about spring cleanup? His answer: Having to be at home instead of at work. And he meant it and he has a family and the whole nine yards. And he said it with pride as if he was supposed to be commended for it.
I love my job and when I’m there I’m totally into it with the full realization that I’m lucky to be on the team I’m on, doing the things I’m doing. But prefer it to being home? No way. It’s what I do, not who I am, and I’m the first to admit that it wasn’t always this way. My identity has been tied to my job before but not anymore and not for a long time.
That man’s admission came to mind when I heard that former federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty had died suddenly at his Ottawa home. Flaherty was Stephen Harper’s only Finance Minister until he resigned less than a month ago saying he wanted to return to the private sector. He had battled a rare skin condition in the past couple of years but was adamant that his health had nothing to do with his desire to make a change.
I wondered how long Flaherty thought about a different life before he actually made the move? I wondered if he came to feel that he had sacrificed too many personal things to do such an important job. I wondered if the stress finally got to him and, if the rumours were true, the fallout between himself and the PM over income-tax splitting wasn’t just the catalyst for his resignation, but the final straw. It’s very sad that he didn’t get to do whatever it was he wanted to do next. Flaherty did a great job for his country but in the end it was just a job. And had he died while in office, someone else would be doing that job in short order while to his friends and family he is, of course, irreplaceable.
Time has more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time. – Jim Rohn