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CEO Dad on Why You Shouldn’t Bring a Bad Day at Work Home

Dad's Advice to Working Parents: "Don’t Let Your Bad Day Become Your Family's Bad Night"

Father and CEO Casey Graham realises the importance of work-life balance — so much so that he's taking the time to remind working parents about the pitfalls that take place when you bring a bad day at work home with you. In a post on LinkedIn, Casey explained how he changed his post-work behaviour to ensure he was no longer bringing workday baggage home to his family, especially his kids.

"Don't let YOUR bad day become your FAMILY's bad night," he wrote. "For a few years, I would take my bad day home with me and make my family deal with it. I would be short with the kids, not talk much at the dinner table, [and be] depressed, emotionally disconnected, and slightly on edge."

Although Casey knew his behaviour wasn't fair, wrangling his emotions after a particularly bad day was harder than he thought. "I would blame my bad night on my bad day and expect my family to understand," he wrote. "Then one day I started thinking about my kids as adults and I asked myself: 1. Do I want my son to grow up emotionally unstable because he never knew which dad was coming home? 2. Do I want my daughter to accept this kind of behaviour from her future husband? 3. Does my wife deserve to get my leftovers emotionally because I lost a deal that day?"

Obviously wanting none of these things for his wife and children, Casey looked inward to see what he could do to change his actions. "I was sick to my stomach and felt like I had to make a major change," he explained. "How I try to prevent this? I listen to music on way home, no calls. I sit in [the] car when I get home and say out loud, 'I'm Daddy, not CEO.' I smile when I enter. I ask questions at dinner. [I'm] 100 percent not perfect but [I'm] trying."

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