A little over 18 months ago my wife and I became new parents. Our son, Everest, has been rocking our world ever since.
In many ways he’s made my life more challenging with new responsibilities and considerations. As an entrepreneur, it would be easy to assume that this could make running my businesses more difficult. However, in hindsight I’m actually realizing that he’s made me a better business man, and here’s why.
Schedule
For starters, babies tend to run on a schedule. They sleep, eat, play, and poop on schedules. They aren’t always perfect, but once you get them into a routine it usually follows a pattern for a while.
Knowing Everest’s schedule gives me something to work around. For example, I get up very early around 4am every morning so I can squeeze 2-3 hours of work in before he wakes up. I also shut down all work after 4pm because that’s time to be a dad and enjoy my family.
Before he came along I would work whenever, on no particular schedule. Whereas now I have set times that are for work, which keeps me better organized and productive.
The 6th Sense
I was a pretty capable and resourceful human being before Everest came along. But now I have a new 6th sense that only dads can have. It’s a whole other level, and you only know what I’m talking about if you’re a dad.
For example, I can immediately identify anything in a room that a child might choke on within 3 seconds of entering the room. I can also cook dinner while simultaneously hosting a living room dance session (true multi-tasking at last!). I also hold the world record for fastest diaper change in Colorado (not really… but I’m fast). All joking aside, being a dad enables you to see and do things that you couldn’t see or do before. It gives you a new perspective, which I call the 6th sense.
I apply that 6th sense to my business every day. From sales to programming, I just see and do things a little differently now as if my work is a little baby that I have to nurture. I pay more attention to small things like time management that go a long way when they’re optimized.
Less Time
Being a father requires a lot of time. Time to clean, time to play, time to cook, time for baths, and time for many other things. This time is extremely valuable to me now. Much more valuable than my time was before, because now I have a little human that needs me.
This ultimately gives me less time for business. I use to work 10+ hours/day whereas now I rarely work more than 8. Multiply that by 52 weeks and it’s a big chunk of time. The bi-product of this is that it forces me to be more efficient with my time. Now when I work I’m hyper focused because I know I have a limited amount of time to get things done.
As you get older, and perhaps wiser, you really start to value your time. Being a father makes me value that time even more. I know there will be plenty of work ahead in my life, but I can’t get back any missed time with my son, so I try to make the most of every second.
These are just a few examples of how my son makes me better at business. I’m sure there will be plenty of additional learnings in the future as he grows, so stay tuned!
Ali Jafarian
Ali is a father, husband and serial entrepreneur with a deep drive to create. He writes, records, codes and builds things to inspire the artist in all of us.
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