Stop, unplug and reflect

To achieve a balance where your business supports your life, not becomes it, it’s time to rethink what is driving you.

Ben Southall took a group of owners of start-ups to the grassland eco-region of the Mongolian-Manchurian steppe. Photo: iStock.

We are privileged to live in a world where we have access to information at the touch of a few buttons. We can communicate through an ever-growing array of digital platforms from email to WhatsApp, FaceTime and text messages.

All these means to connect and communicate are fantastic as long as we don’t let it take over our lives; yet increasingly this is what is happening, especially for those running businesses and even more so for those operating small and medium enterprises.

Every business is different and faces its own challenges, but there are also problems that are universal for business owners, including exception­ally high levels of stress and an inordinate number of demands on their time, energy and focus. For these individuals, it is essential that they take a step back to look at what they are creating, why and at what cost.

Old modes of thinking, where a successful business was largely defined by its turnover and growth, increasingly are less applicable as business owners come to understand and appreciate it counts for nothing if they are not happy and the business cannot be sustained.

Sure, there will always be those who measure their success by their bank balance, and if that makes them happy they should embrace that. But if you want to realise a work-life balance where the business supports your life rather than becomes it, now is as good as any time to rethink what is driving you.

This year I took a group of owners of start-ups to the grassland eco-region of the Mongolian-Manchurian steppe, where they were out of digital contact with the world and spent time with nomadic herders, exploring the remote wilderness and their own motivations and drivers.

Among the group of 11 women and four men, all working in start-ups in remote and regional Australia, was Julia Telford, the director of Engage & Create Consulting, a business and marketing advisory start-up, who wanted to celebrate her 12-month anniversary of receiving the all-clear following breast cancer.

Telford manages a team of three in her business, operated from regional Goondiwindi in Queensland’s Darling Downs, and while she loves the work, she says she is starved of opportuni­ties to network with like-minded business people.

“For many on the trip, not having access to the internet was difficult because it was new to them,” Telford said. “I am used to that happening, living in Goodiwindi, but it was really interesting to see how people responded to that.

“The digital disconnect served as a great leveller among the group, which meant we then really engaged around the campfire without the distraction of our digital devices.

“I found the result to be conversations which were deeper and more meaningful and really had an impact on how I work and live now.

“It sounds quite dramatic to say it was life-changing, yet the trip was just that for me.”

Months after their adventure, the group remains in touch, providing ongoing support for each other. For Telford and others who take the chance on themselves to engage in challenging outdoor adventures designed to encourage self-reflection and bonding with others in the same career position as themselves, definitions of success become informed by their time in nature and with each other.

After all, is a business really a success if it lasts only for a short, bright time and is devastating to the physical, financial and emotional health of its owner?

Some would argue yes; many would not.

Ben Southall is expedition director at Best Life Adventures.