I worked for myself most of my life so was better able to control the work-life balance. One of my mottos was "I can always work more to make more money, but I cannot make more time."

Time was my most precious resource. Time for my family, my friends, myself. Money was something that could free up time: if I got a lucrative gig, some of that could give us more mini vacations.

My other motto related to how many hours I owed to the work week: "Fifty is nifty, but twenty is plenty." I couldn't always live up to that one, but I definitely tried.