Your Highest Priority.

Today's Marketing Cookie discusses the cost of working beyond your needs—a price your family must pay.

In the earliest days of parenthood, I was juggling three minimum wage jobs to provide for my young family. As months turned into years, I took on greater responsibilities and gained momentum in my career, yet continued to work long hours. I had become so accustomed to pushing and toiling every hour of every day for so long that resting became foreign to me.

Initially, my work was about survival and necessity, and I paid my dues for the benefit of my family. More than a decade later, I was still working the same long hours, and my family was paying the price. I had lost sight of what was most important. No matter how hard I worked, there was never "enough" money, yet time remained tragically limited.

This cycle could have continued indefinitely if not for urging of friends, who mandated I stop working on Saturdays and take meaningful vacations with my family. It was embarrassing to admit that we had never been on a real, unplugged vacation before. They intervened just in time, possibly even saving my family. Without them, I might have missed everything.

Listen, we're all working hard. Some of us do so out of necessity, others because we love our work. That's okay. However, there comes a point where working to provide begins to take away from what's truly important. I couldn't see it until a friend pointed it out to me. What about you? This may or may not resonate with you, but I hope you'll consider the advice in today's fortune, which says, "This year, make your family your highest priority."