Something I experienced over a 3 second period on my walk into the office building this morning inspired me to write this.

It was a deep inhale of brisk, downtown Grand Rapids air. I actually had to take a double sniff. The first inhale caught my attention, but it was that second deep, lung filling gulp of air that whisked my mind away to the warm breeze of Cancun, Mexico.

It was that smell. A magical mixture of clean air and something on the grill that did it. I was no longer walking down the sidewalk of Ottawa Avenue, I was relaxing poolside at the Royal Caribbean Resort with my wife, being served a mixed drink as the sun beat down on me (my mind works very fast).

Ahh, what a feeling.

The point? Let me get to it…

As far as we know, we have one shot at life. And the longer I live (wow, it’s been 30 years already), the less value I put on money and the more value I put on spending time with my family and friends.

During a recent keynote by Gary Vaynerchuk, he talked about how he’s infatuated with learning as much as he can from “old people.” The most important thing he’s taken away is none of them give a crap about the money they saved throughout their life. What they value most are the times they spent with their family. And if they could do it all over again, they’d spend MORE time with their loved ones.

And it’s true. You don’t have to be 90 to realize this. Imagine yourself on your death bed right now (you can do it). What’s most important to you? Your family and friends, or the amount of money you have in your bank account? Nobody on their death bed will wish they spent more time at work.

Gotta get real people. Money is important. Without it, life can be very stressful. At Mindscape, we enjoy working really hard to earn it, but we encourage every member of our team to put that money to good use and enjoy life. Go on vacation. Use that paycheck as a vehicle to get out and enjoy life with your family and friends!

It’s this mindset that caused us to change our work schedule back in 2007. We said if we’re going to work this hard for our clients, we have to play hard to reward ourselves. So we created a work schedule that allows each member of the team to have a 4-day weekend every other week. EVERY OTHER WEEK!

Do you realize what that does to your life?

If I wasn’t out enjoying life, I couldn’t have went from Grand Rapids, MI to Cancun, Mexico in 3 seconds this morning. The value of vacations comes from the time away, but it’s the smells and memories I bring back with me that will keep giving until that day I’m on my death bed.

So, here’s some great news. We’re hiring. We want to impact your life. And we’re interested in talking to you (don’t worry, everything is very confidential if you’re currently employed).

What we’re looking for (in this order):

  1. All-Star .NET Developers (must have a desire to be innovative)
  2. All-Star Web Designers (attention to detail, creativity a must)
  3. All-Star Sales Reps (I don’t like that title, but you get the idea)

If you value time with your family and want to have fun at work, Mindscape at Hanon McKendry might be the right company for you to work with.

Visit http://bit.ly/dvepU6 to let us know.

But then again, if you’d prefer to spend 20% MORE time away from your family and friends by working 5 days a week, feel free. We’re not judging.