Over the years, I’ve given countless talks to business owners, and one concept always seems to resonate more than the rest: Return on Life Experience™ (ROLE).
Business owners naturally think in terms of Return on Investment (ROI) — it’s how we measure success in our companies, investments, and opportunities. But ROI only tells part of the story. What often gets overlooked is something far more personal: the return you’re getting on your actual life.
ROLE asks a simple but powerful question: ** Are you getting the life you want from the wealth you’ve worked so hard to build?**
Why ROLE Matters
The money you make is only as valuable as the life it enables. Your choices around how you spend your time, who you spend it with, and the experiences you prioritize all add up to the quality of your life.
Return on Life Experience™ is about measuring, and ultimately improving, those choices. It’s about shifting the focus from “more wealth” to “more life.”
Start with Time
The most straightforward way to measure ROLE is by looking at your time.
Ask yourself: How many hours per week and how many weeks per year do I want to dedicate to pursuing my business vision?
Then compare that to your reality.
For example, my personal target is 25 hours a week, 35 weeks a year working toward my business vision. The rest of my time, I want to spend on family, travel, adventure, community, and health.
I’m not there yet, but I have a clear target.
Now it’s your turn: ** Fill in the blank: ____ hours/week, ____ weeks/year.**