Why draw a line between personal & professional?

Drawing the line between personal & professional time is one of the challenges of being a sales person or a recruiter or a business owner.  I'm all 3, so the problem is magnified. 

Over the years, I've decided that there is no clear division between desk & deck if we're actively involved in personal and/or business communities.  That is, we're usually thinking business during our personal activities, & usually making friends within our business networks. 

So, my philosophy is to forget drawing a line & to select work-related pursuits that are fun in themselves.  Clearly, every recruiting & sales task isn't fun, but I do have some control over how & with whom I spend my time. 

I consciously seek out professional organizations that have the highest cost-benefit ratios for my needs; therefore, they must meet the following criteria:

1. Provide the greatest revenue-producing opportunities for the time & money I spend with them. 
2. Teach me about topics that interest me or that are important to my business.
3. Expose me to interesting, curious, thought-provoking, & ethical people. 
4. Include fun as part of their unspoken - or spoken - culture.
5. Expand my horizons, inspire me.

I actively spend my time & money with 2 professional groups, the NC Technology Association (NCTA) & the NC Association of Staffing Professionals (NCASP).  They both meet all my criteria.  Both have fantastic conferences led by interesting & thought-provoking speakers & experts.  They have monthly training opportunities that are reasonably-priced & high-quality.  Their members are smart & provocative professionals whom I respect & like.

Of course, it's the people in any organization that make all these things happen.  Leaders of NCASP & NCTA make sure their activities are educational, worthy of my investment in them - and fun.  Meetings aren't necessarily laced with gut-wrenching laughter, but they are definitely filled with smiles & intriguing information.  I walk away from every meeting with new ideas & with a renewed eagerness for my job. 

So I've already registered for NCTA's annual meeting Jan 24 in Raleigh, to hear Gartner's predictions for the tech sector in 2011.  And I've signed up for NCASP's annual fun- and inspiration-filled conference April 28-30 at the NC BEACH. 

Even though both those events will require some of my personal time, it won't matter because I'll be enjoying myself with friends & sparking my synapses, all under the guise of work.  What a great recruiting life!