I was talking to an old musician one time and he was relaying stories to me about some great musicians he had an opportunity to play with in his lifetime. He was a good musician, but felt he had missed his full potential. He told me that as a piano player, if I wanted to be great in my craft, I had to make a choice. I looked at him and wondered, “What is he talking about?” For the next few minutes he explained his logic. You see, he was well on his way to a music career and then it happened…he met a woman and ended up getting married. I looked at him at this point in the story like,” What’s wrong with that?” He then went on to explain to me that his priorities had to change at this point away from his passion of music to his passion for his wife. He then told me a line that should be in movies that I never forgot, “No great musician has been able to have both, a wife and success in their craft…one will be sacrificed at times if you try and entertain both.” He went on to say,”If you want to be a great musician, leave them women alone because they do not like to compete with anything, not even your passions.”

I was 19 years old at the time and sitting there thinking, “Could he be right?” Is it impossible for someone to maintain a strong relationship and entertain building a strong career? Is there some validity to what he said? Now at 30, I see what the guy was telling me, but I am able to put it into perspective. As an entrepreneur, a large part of your life has to be devoted to building your business. It becomes a type of “marriage” of sorts. You have to be fully committed to it, you can’t spend too much time away from it, and you can’t “cheat” on it with other endeavors or the “relationship” will suffer. For your business, or any passion in life that you want to cultivate, to be successful you must place high priority on it. Entrepreneurs typically are lonely people in the beginning stages of their business because of the time commitment required.

While other people are going out, you are at home working. While other people are trying to build relationships with the opposite sex, you are trying to build partnerships with a competing business. While others are “enjoying” life, you are supposedly living a “boring” life devoted to a business. Can you entertain a relationship and a business, career, or passion at the same time? It depends on the persons involved. The only way it can be successful, in my opinion, is if your mate is just as devoted to supporting your passions as they are supporting you. What does this mean? They have to understand the time commitment involved, in the initial stages, with your business. They have to understand that you are laying a foundation for you future, so you can live in the house of success later. They have to understand you.

Can you entertain a wife/husband or relationship and your passion at the same time? It depends on the person. I do not criticise people that say they are “married to their career” and I do not criticise people that say you need “the support of a mate” to accomplish your goals in life. It is a matter of choice. Balance in your life is not based on what people think it should be, it is based on what you want it to be. If you are comfortable with what you focus your attentions on and you know the end results, press towards your goals. Entrepreneurs are often lonely people, even when they make the choice to bring a relationship into the equation though. Simply put, the guy was right in one respect, few people will understand and have an appreciation for your passion as you do! No one said being “married” to your business or passion is a bad thing, you will probably go from “poorer” to “richer” a lot faster than you would being married to the opposite sex! Haven’t you ever wondered why in a wedding ceremony they say for “richer” first and then hit you with the bombshell for “poorer” next, but yet put in “sickness” first and in “health” second.

“A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.” -Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” -Vidal Sassoon