I have been considering doing a blog of my own for a while (of course, who hasn’t?). I have long read about the benefits of blogging … for journaling, for connecting, for venting, etc. Well, I’m taking the leap as I make a number of other changes and hope to use it as a place to log my progress, thoughts, reminders, and inspiration.

You see, I hate being an entrepreneur, not that I believe any other work choice is any better. In fact, I think it can be the best way to deal with the problem of work and life and the life/work balance equation if done right. It’s just that I have recently hit my breaking point. Working 70 hours a week, not making the progress I know should have been made, seeing less and less of my family … all of this has combined to leave me wondering why I don’t run away to some remote island, live on the beach and scavenge for food. Well, the answer to that question always come back to my family.

My wife and I are blessed to have four great kids and my greatest desire is for them to grow up with the best and most correct views on life … what it should all be about, and how to best live the kind of life that will bring happiness and fulfillment. Does that all sound a bit cheesy? Well, it’s what I’m goin’ for nonetheless.

So, I Relent, why?

Well, the word relent has come to have a few meanings for me. First, it fits with my current view of my life as an entrepreneur. I, RELuctant ENTrepreneur, have real misgivings about the “commercial” world and my heretofore place in it. I believe business can be a great force for good, offering products and services that can benefit the lives of consumers and jobs to those struggling to support their families. I also believe that my life has become too “commercial” with an overabundance of time and attention given to the making and spending of money. My mind has become so dominated with these issues, that I have all too often forgotten how great my wife and children are and how good my life is outside of the “what do you do?” issue.

Also, the definition of “relent” is most often associated with giving up, which is what I am going to do. Not giving up on life or the dreams I have for my family, but I am giving up on my cultural training and upbringing. I was raised to believe that the more you worked, the better person you were. The more time spent on the “busy”ness of business, the more successful you were. I don’t think I believe either of those propositions anymore. While working has its benefits (and an overabundance of leisure is probably more dangerous than an overabundance of work) I no longer feel like work is the “end all, be all” of existence. And I know that I have spent too much time working on those things of lower importance and effectiveness over the last ten years of my life (wow, a decade and nearly a third of my life given to the wrong things, ouch). And indiscriminant busy-ness has shown itself to the anti-thesis of success in my life. So yes, I relent, I give up, but I believe that what I’m giving up is not worth much anyway, and that what I’m giving it up for is of far greater value, excitement and interest. And this will, I hope, be the subject of this blog. How do I go about living a new kind of life in a new way (for me at least)? I have a number of ideas on how to do this, none fully fleshed out, and a number of inspirations and guides that I’ll share as well. This blog itself is one of the expirements I hope will bring me along in my goals. I hope that by writing and thinking about these issues I can remain motivated and focused on my “end game”.

Also, I love the primary definition given for relent in the Answers.com dictionary. It is …

To become more lenient, compassionate, or forgiving. To cause to soften in attitude or temper.

This has also become one of my recent goals, both for my wife and children’s sake as well as for my own.

So there it is. I, RELENT. If you have found your way here and are up for it, please leave some comments or email me — tom(at)irelent(dot)com — with your advice, story, or criticism. Thanks. Tom.