Can you have it all?

No.

Life is full of tradeoffs of what you can and can’t do. Sometimes this puts you in a scenario where you’re choosing between consequential and not (ie, being on your phone versus going hiking), but life is full of decisions.

I like playing flag football, but being an ll-American sports star is out of the cards for me. I could maybe devote my life to football and end up in the little leagues. On the other hand, I’m reasonably smart, and I’m able to learn a slightly different field (data analytics) at a graduate level, while working, regularly blogging, and maintaining a social life.

You should try more accurately tracking what you’re doing with your time to see if it’s in accordance with your goals. If you recognize that the 5+ hours you spend each day on your phone isn’t allowing you to achieve goals you’d likely succeed in lieu of it, you may be able to remove some ‘slack’ from your life. But, otherwise, you’re stuck.

I think this type of tradeoff lends itself well to hard-working, industrious entrepreneurs. Having the understanding to recognize that there are infinite ways to improve your business, but you only have enough time in the day or money for certain choices. Entrepreneurship also makes clear the fact that a fair amount of success is mastering dumb luck. A lot of people start traction in unlikely places, and just putting yourself into new dimensions can often help you in ways you wouldn’t expect.

Another interesting thing is comparing yourself to the winners who’ve already achieved their goals. If you aren’t sure you’d like to be like other executives, focusing on following in their footsteps may be maladaptive.