Have you had a lap dance lately? No, not that kind, but one that can wreak just as much havoc in your family if you aren’t careful with it. I lap-danced in 2010, and I’m reflecting on whether I am better for it. It’s a dance that happens in my easy chair, with my laptop, books and files on my lap.

One of the things that I bought myself in this year was a lap desk. You know, a hardwood surface on one side for writing or for your computer to sit on while you are in your easy chair, and a pillow-like back side so that it “settles” solidly on your lap fitting to the shape of your legs. In fact, I didn’t just buy myself one, I bought two: one to go beside my easy chair in front of the fireplace in the hearth room, and one beside my other easy chair in front of the fireplace in the bedroom.

Is my lap desk a blessing or a curse? I think it’s both. It’s a blessing in that I can sit comfortably in front of the fire, in an easy chair, with the family and dogs all around, and do work. It’s a curse in that at the end of my day when I should be resting, decompressing, and being all about my wife and kids, I can get caught up in work because it’s so easy to access my computer or notebooks “for just a minute” while I’m sitting with the family, and then three hours later I’m still working away.

I keep trying to find balance. I think I’m doing OK, not great, but neither am I failing. It’s no sin to work on your lap desk in the evening, but its no virtue either.

Would I buy a lap desk again? Yes. But its kinda like having narcotics in the medicine cabinet. Both the narcotic and the lap desk need to be used properly and not misused so that they make your life better instead of digging you a deeper hole.

We’ve all got cell phones, laptops, etc., that are simultaneous blessings and curses. What’s the slightly unusual thing you have—like my lapdesk—that is a tiger you have to keep in its cage? Tell me about it at clicking here.

I was sitting on the porch (my specialty) drinking a Diet Coke and resting a bit from an intense few hours getting my garden in shape for Spring, when my friend Brett Godfrey gestures broadly and says “not everybody would ‘get’ this.”

It was a beautiful Spring day; the horses were grazing in the South pasture and the goats were frolicking in the front paddock. This is life as it was meant to be. (Deep good sigh!) 

But Brett is right, most people can’t conceive of why I’d be sitting here in muddy boots and Big Smith overalls with an aching back when an hour in my office working in the area of my unique ability would generate more revenue than my family will spend on vegetables in an entire year. Maybe I don’t get this either. Why do I do it?

Balancing work and leisure (yes, the garden is a leisure activity—-some people play golf, some people move rocks and dig in dirt—–both cause sweat) is an ongoing struggle for entrepreneurs. Nearly every day that I pause to play I find my mind drifting to “how much I’m worth an hour if I were doing something productive.” But the truth is: that’s weak thinking. Strong thinking realizes that life is about life, and work is just a tool to support life, and most importantly—leisure is productive.

Life is found in the simple pleasure of eating bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches when the pork came from your farm, and the lettuce and tomato grew in your garden. (In trying economic times there’s a certain confidence that comes from experiencing a meal that you grew totally on your place—slow food instead of fast food.) Life is in sitting on the porch in a rocking chair (yeah, we’ve got about ten big ones across the porch) visiting with your friends. In fact, that’s one of the best places to sit and talk with God. It’s also a good place to think.

Have you just sat quietly and done any thinking lately? What about talking to God? What about visiting with a friend? I won’t even ask where your bacon came from.

Dan Sullivan Founder of Strategic Coach (if you’ll contact them they’ll send you a free CD on the entrepreneurial time system) has taught me that in order to be most productive on what he calls Focus Days, I need to have a commensurate amount of Free Days in my schedule. A Free Day is a 24 hour time period where you do nothing related to work. Many of my friends in Strategic Coach have over 100 Free Days a year. That’s a nice balance of life and work.

I don’t have this subject all figured out yet, so I’m mostly just musing aloud. Though I am discovering that the more time I take off, and the more relaxed I am, the more productive I am on my Focus Days, and the more money I make. When Brett commented about people “not getting it” I promptly replied, “Yeah, I like money. But I like homegrown tomatoes, too.”

Take the day off. Go stick a shovel in the dirt.