Robert Mayo – Professional Auctioneer, Auction Educator & Public Speaker

If you make your living in the auction industry then you know how fast paced and time pressured the world of auction marketing is. For many, myself included, this is one of the things we like most about our business. We are always in high gear working hard to solve problems, sell assets and keep the business headed in the right direction. Every element has a deadline and no two days are ever the same.

This is also one of the biggest challenges we face when we take our auctioneer hat off and go home to spend time with our spouse and children.

Not too long ago I was taking my family to the park to play and have lunch. We stopped at the grocery store to pick up some picnic items. I found myself managing the trip to the store and the park as if it were a time defined auction event. I was rushing everyone around to get what we needed and get to the park so we could “hurry up and play.” Really? Was I expecting to register bidders at the monkey bars?

I am sure that this is not unique to our profession either.

Am I the only one who has a hard time turning off the sense or urgency that is common in the workplace when I get home, while I should be relaxing or focusing on slowing my world down?

What do you do for a living? Do you have this challenge? How do you manage this issue in your life?

For me, the first and obvious step is awareness. The next step is to empower my family to tell me when I am doing this so I can work on slowing down and living a more rich and full life.

My sister Melissa has a saying about quality family time. She calls it “making memories.” I like that.

My hope is that we can all do a better job of leaving our work at the door, and work at home on “making memories.”