And I try to live it.

A couple of Saturdays ago, I realized I might be getting pretty close.

Nothing extraordinary happened that day.

Which was exactly what made it extraordinary.

I played pickleball in the morning with a foursome I had put together.

I was texting with friends, figuring out when nine of us could get together again.

I was going back and forth with more than 160 people in the football pool I’ve run for years.

I set up a call with my brother and sister.

And somewhere in the middle of all that, I was thinking about work—tweaking a campaign that might help me meet more people, have more conversations and hopefully find some great people to join Partners Mortgage.

At some point I stopped and thought:

Where exactly did the work end and the fun begin?

I honestly couldn’t tell.

And I loved that.

I don’t want to spend five days waiting for two.

I don’t want to spend 50 weeks waiting for a vacation.

And I certainly don’t want to spend years waiting for retirement before I start enjoying my life.

I want the random Saturday to be pretty great, too.

And sitting there that day, bouncing between pickleball, friends, family, football and work, I realized:

This is it.

This is the life I’ve been trying to build.

And when I looked at all the pieces, I realized they had something in common.

People.

Friends at pickleball.

My family.

The people in my football pool.

The people I work with.

And the friends I haven’t met yet.

I’ve always said:

“All I do is make friends… and then do business with my friends.”

But maybe I’ve had it backward.

Maybe I don’t love connecting with people because it’s good for business.

Maybe business has worked for me because I genuinely love connecting with people.

There’s a big difference.

This Week, Try This…

Pay attention to the moments when you lose track of whether you’re working or playing.

What are you doing?

Who are you with?

What part of yourself are you using?

There may be a breadcrumb there.

Because maybe the goal isn’t perfectly balancing work and life.

Maybe it’s something simpler:

Build a life you don’t need to take a vacation from.

And make sure the random Saturdays are pretty great, too.