A few years ago, my wife, Kimbra, and I read the book “The 5 Love Languages” by Gary Chapman, who is a counselor as well as an author. It was an exciting and rewarding read. I discovered that my love language is touch and Kimbra’s is … well, everything but touch. That explained a lot.
Anyway, I’d love to share about all the languages and their attributes, but for now I’ll only be sharing about the love language of quality time. I promise it ties in with my role as the economic developer here in Fairview.
Now you may be thinking that with the current pandemic, you’ve had all the quality time you want with your loved ones. As the father of three, I completely understand that feeling. But trust me, there will come a time when we all go back to work. We’ll get back to our hurried morning routines where we race to get ready and rush out the door. There will be ball games and dance recitals to rush home to see. There will be date nights and family meals to try to squeeze in. Many of us will be hoping and praying for that elusive traffic jam-free commute. And that, my friends, is why I’m writing this article.
Soon there will be a new office building in Fairview. The Lincoln Property Company is building a 100,000-square-foot office building on the Fairview Town Center’s north side. This new office space will allow our residents to bring their businesses to Fairview, giving them back precious time with their loved ones.
How does an extra 15 minutes in your daily commute impact you and your employees’ lives? It doesn’t sound like much, but it has a broad ripple effect. Let’s take a look, shall we?
It’s 7 a.m. and, you are rushing out the door after a hectic morning getting the kids fed and dressed for school (when they actually go back to school). Traffic on 75 backs up quickly, and even a short delay leaving the house often means doubling your commute time after dropping off the kids. When you commute to work, it is often an easier drive back home at the end of the day if you wait until rush-hour traffic dies down, but that means more office time and less home time. At this rate, getting home in time to have dinner with the family is unlikely, and making time to use that gym membership is out of the question. Every extra minute that can be carved out in the evening is spent with family, but you’re exhausted from your long day and it’s not long before the kids head to bed — and then it all starts over tomorrow.
Sound familiar? But if you work in Fairview, just minutes from home, you get a repeated daily action that gives you back 15 minutes twice a day, every business day. With an average of 21 working days a month, that equates to an extra 630 minutes of time per month, or 126 hours a year. That’s more than an entire week of 16-hour days!
Imagine the change it would make in your relationships if you invested this newfound gift of time into your family’s quality time. And imagine how grateful your employees would be to have the same amount of time to invest in their own personal lives!
If you would like to visit about the new office space coming to town or know someone who might be interested, I’d love to chat. You can drop me an email at EDC@FairviewTexas.org or just give me a call at 972-886-4222.
-Dave Quinn, CEcD