People are returning to work from their Christmas and summer vacation, the children are about to recommence school and the groans can be heard echoing. In conversations with clients, colleagues and friends they revel in telling that while on vacation they did not respond to e-mail or telephone messages. They boast about putting off any business until they return.

We had nine days on Palm Beach at the Gold Coast and seven days at Bargara Beach near Bundaberg, where every day we’d swim, surf, walk, play, eat ice-cream, sip coffee, and the like. This year’s vacation for us was about doing nothing in particular other than guaranteeing our daughter experienced the turtles laying at Mon Repos. I did however, have my iPhone and iPad on the beach, and responded to the very few urgent telephone calls and e-mail messages. I made $16,000.

I kept a lot of current clients happy by responding to questions and providing some feedback. All of this took less than 30 minutes a day. Even the way my wife spends money, we paid for the vacation!

I have no problem watching my daughter in the playground and responding to a call. Almost no one has my mobile phone number, so I have the prerogative of listening to messages and returning calls quickly, or not. The same for e-mails – I choose when and whether to respond, and I do it at a time that’s convenient and appropriate for me.

When I returned to work there were fewer e-mails and telephone messages to wade through. If I can take an afternoon off to be with my daughter during my “working day” at home, why can’t I take business calls or e-mail on my vacation?

Work-Life Balance is not about compartmentalising your life to the exclusion of that which doesn’t fit into rigid guidelines your “life-coach” or yoga instructor compels you to set. Work-Life Balance is about enjoying your life as a whole. Your work is part of your life and without your work you don’t have a life! Taking 30 minutes a day over your vacation to earn the money to pay for it, seems pretty balanced to me.

Dakota, dressed as Rapunzel, batting at the "Christmas Day Test" on Currumbin Beach, Gold Coast