I work in the Corporate sector and have been part of various growing professional organisations.

Such companies are filled with really smart and meticulous people who are driven and single-mindedly focused on making the company succeed in whatever goals it has. I see that such companies have different people taking care of different things, it has a start time and an end time, a set of policies, a code of conduct, a properly defined charter of goals and vision and a clear understanding of its resources and challenges. Such companies are called well organised. They have numerous hard-working people who show up every day and invest considerable amount of time, energy, emotion and attention on getting the job done.

When I see all of this happening at such a remarkable scale, I often wonder “why are people not so efficient at running their own personal lives?”

Same people. Hard workers. Move mountains for achieving the company’s goals. But take one good look at their personal lives and you will see an embarrassing display of neglect and disorganization. Most of them don’t even know what are their goals in their own personal lives. It’s probably too much to ask them to show their plans to attain those goals. They definitely have wishes. In fact they have plenty. But goals, they got none. How interesting.

Same people. Remarkable managers. Have the capacity to get dozens of people to work towards one common vision. But ask them to enlist 5 people who they talk to about their own personal development and you will find a dazed look on their faces. The concept of growth is very innately in-built into the fabric of companies and commerce. They are all in the race of year-on-year growth, quarter-on-quarter growth, growth over industry average, growth over economy forecasts, incremental growth, exponential growth. Say no more. But ask the employees working in these companies about how they plan to grow as humans, athletes, friends, husbands, wives, parents, members of the community, citizens of the country; and they won’t know. See they will argue that you always have someone you are accountable to when you are in the company, in personal lives not so much. But see, you can’t use that. It’s true but it’s a disastrous excuse for not having any agenda of your own personal growth and development. It’s colossal.

I have often admired the CEOs of the companies I’ve worked in. This guy or gal is the fore-runner of the enterprise. The guy who basically directs the path the company will go on. He also runs the whole ship as a captain. He is as involved in the high level 30,000 ft. decisions as he is in the day-to-day operational concerns. He takes help from a team of dedicated people, but he also sets up an environment in which these people are rewarded to do the good things that they do for the company.

The CEO is the master promoter of his own enterprise. He is also the one who has ultimate responsibility whether the ship sails or sinks.

I have often wondered that what if we ran our lives as if they were our personal company, our enterprise, our business (which they are by the way) and acted as if we are the CEO of it. The one who is ultimately responsible. Whether the ship sails or sinks.

What if we also had a board of advisers who we would periodically turn to for advice and discussing about the long-term future and vision of the enterprise?

What if we also had a team of people who were committed to partake in our company’s (life’s) growth journey and played different roles that collectively made sure that our enterprise thrives, and not just survives?

What if we also had an overarching purpose for existence, a vision statement, a mission statement, a need in the world that we were fulfilling with our gifts of production, a problem that we were committed to solve through our ingenious efforts; what if?

What if we also had a list of Assets, an annual budget, a monthly budget, a plan on how we will spend our resources (money, effort, attention, time) to produce results and we often held meetings to review progress on those plans; what if?

What if we also had performance appraisals every year wherein we’d look back into the previous year and analyze very objectively that where we produced the outcomes we had intended to and where we fell short?

What if we would reward ourselves with performance bonuses and off-shore trips that would be followed with even bigger challenges and better prospects?

What if?

I don’t know whether it is right or not to be so meticulous and calculative in the matter of your personal life. But I do know this; as much as life is about being carefree and relaxed, it is also about the rush of the pleasure received by going after your big goals and the joy of achieving them and sharing the great feelings with loved ones.

And such great achievement towards life’s big goals would most definitely require you to get organised, manage your focus, go after the challenges with all the resources you got, and monitor your performance and progress on a routine basis so that you can course-correct. These are all ethos of how a classic CEO runs his company. With proper organisation, pacing towards his big vision, so that there is growth and there is prosperity, so that all can thrive and solve bigger and better problems.

Hence I am of the opinion that every once in a while we should step into the shoes of an imaginary CEO and look at our life as if it were our company. Run it with the same tenacity that that the CEO would bring, and grow this enterprise called ‘life’ towards success, prosperity and fulfillment.

A similar article written in the Inc. Magazine @inc.com

Here’s what Happened when I started Running my Life like a Business