Before You Question My Work/Life Balance, Read This.

It’s no secret that I work a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean a shit ton. A five or three minute meeting is a normal occurrence on my calendar. I wake up at six and don’t stop working till ten or eleven at night. This is what works for me, and I’ll never try to tell you to be just like me. You should always focus on what provides you with the most value, what forces you to work as hard as you can.

But because I am always working, I get a lot of questions about my family life. It usually goes something like this: “Hey Gary, you preach family first, but how can that be when you never stop working?”

I’ll be honest, it’s a fair question. The image I project of myself doesn’t really allow you to see the other sides of my life.

But that’s just the point.

The way that I storytell my life vs. the way I storytell my private life are very different. And that’s very much intended.

I play in extremes. My daughter had a recital a few weeks ago, and I was the first parent in line for it. On weekends, I am all in. 100%. I’m not playing 4 hours of golf. I’m not doing a lot of things other people are doing. I’m all in on the kids.

I’m not trying to argue that my normal Monday-Friday weeks aren’t intense; they definitely are. But because of that intensity, I have found my cadence with my spouse and my children that directly balances it out.

And the truth is, my wife and I have chosen to say very little about our kids in public. I understand why people question my ability to be a good dad. It might seem like the kids aren’t around a lot, right? Well, Xander and Misha are 3 and 6. I would prefer to keep that part of my life private until they can decide. A lot of public figures are very open about their families on social. And that’s fine too. But it was my personal choice to make sure this part of my career, the public image, didn’t bring them into the limelight without it being their choice first.

So I guess what I’m saying is this: never assume you have the whole story.Yeah, you see me working eleven hours and in meetings and flights and hustling. But there is a lot you don’t see too.

As time progresses, I know I will have to adjust my schedule. That’s part of life, and that’s just what I do: I continue to always adjust based on what is happening in my life.

Bottom line: there are a lot more things going on here than just the things you are making assumptions on.