Is Your Home Great or Did You Make It Great?

This morning my wife came into the bathroom where I was getting out of the shower. She had a glowing look on her face. She said, “I really love our house.”

Now I agree with her. We found a house that you usually don’t find in the city of Chicago unless you want to pay twice as much as we paid. We have 40X120 foot lot. The normal in the city is somewhere around 25X120. This allows for an open floor plan where the kitchen opens up to the family room. The kids can run and play and we can huddle around the kitchen island watching and joining in.

But, she didn’t mean specifically that she loved our home. What she meant is that she loved what we have created.

Neither my wife or I are very big on material possessions. Now that doesn’t mean we don’t like nice things and new things. What we love are experiences. We love creating experiences with our kids every day. We have our routines and they certainly can get overwhelmingly exhausting with a 2 and 4 year old, but we try to stay in the big picture and realize the parts are small moments in the grand scheme of things.

The question I ask is what makes you happy?

Things or Experiences?

Take a moment, close your eyes and think about your past. What do you remember? The things you have? Or The experiences you created?

I would bet that you remember the experiences you created more than the things you have. What drives me every day is thinking about the experiences I get to create with my family.

It isn’t our home we bought that is great. It’s the home we create through great experiences that is great. That home is not a specific place, but the camaraderie and relationship we create as husband, wife and with 2 little boys.

This works with your family and your business. What experiences are you creating? You’re in control of what culture you have at home and what culture you have within your business. Create great experiences and create a home for family and employees.