Finding A Work-Life Balance

If you're a business owner, you know that finding the right work-life balance can be tricky. In some ways, your business is like a child. It needs your love and attention to grow to its full potential. However, it also needs boundaries. You wouldn't let your child run free around the house—or on the roof!—so why would you let your business do whatever it wants? As I've learned from personal experience as both an entrepreneur and a father of two, there are many ways to establish healthy boundaries between work and life when running a small business:

What is work-life balance?

Work-life balance is a term that refers to the idea that you should have a healthy balance between your work life and your personal life. In other words, it's important to have time to enjoy your life and not get burned out.

Work-life balance is important for your health and well-being because if you become too stressed at work, it can affect your moods and relationships. You might feel like you don't have enough time for friends or family members if you're working too much. Work-life balance also affects how happy you are with what you do for a living: if there isn't enough connection between the job itself (e.g., designing websites) and what motivates someone personally (e.g., making money), then that person might not be happy about spending all day at their desk looking at computer screens!

To figure out a work-life balance, you need to know yourself.

No one can tell you exactly how to do this, because it’s different for everyone. But there are some things that you need to know about yourself and your situation if you want to find balance:

• What do you need in order to be happy? Do you need time with friends and family, or a break from work entirely? Do you like being alone or do you prefer the company of others? You may have an idea of what makes other people happy, but only consider what will make YOU happy.
• What are your goals? Do you want more money, more security or more freedom? Then think about how much time each goal should take up in your life before deciding where else it needs to go on the scale of priorities.

1. Schedule your time.

We've all heard the advice to "schedule your time", but it can be hard for business owners who always seem to be busy.

Schedule work hours and personal hours on your calendar is a good start, but it's also important to include time for exercise, family, and friends. Your schedule needs to be realistic without being too rigorous or stressful; don't create unrealistic expectations by scheduling back-to-back meetings from 9am until 8pm every day. Try not to forget about yourself as well! Make sure you have regular breaks so that you aren't working 20 hour days every week with no vacation time (or weekends). Consider finding other ways of managing your workload such as delegating tasks or hiring an assistant if necessary.

2. Outsource what you can.

One of the most common ways to find work-life balance, according to our experts, is outsourcing.

Outsourcing can be a great way for business owners to get more done in less time, but it’s important that you don’t simply outsource everything and forget about your employees. If you want to be successful at finding work-life balance as a business owner, then you need to make sure that your team still feels like they belong on the team and have an opportunity for growth within their role.

When it comes down to it though: if an employee needs help or training with something in their job function or responsibilities—it’s up to YOU as the boss of your company (and possibly founder) to make sure they have access (and training) on how they can do this themselves rather than relying on someone else at first glance all day long every single day forever until death do us part."

3. Keep your phone off and out of sight during non-work hours.

If you’re having trouble finding balance, one easy way to start getting there is by keeping your phone out of sight. Turn off your phone when you are not working and don’t look at it while you are with family or friends. You will be amazed how much more relaxing time away from work is when you aren't constantly checking the time or looking at the latest email that has come in.

Another tip is to not work while on vacation (trust me - this one can be hard at first). It also can be tricky because most people have a lot going on in their lives, but if possible, try to stay away from work while on vacation. It will help make sure that your vacation isn't ruined by stress over what needs to be done back home as well as help ensure that when you do return, your batteries are fully recharged and you'll be ready to tackle any challenge that comes your way.

4. Find a trusted coworker or partner who can handle urgent matters when you're not around.

It's important to find a coworker or partner who can handle urgent matters when you're not around. This is especially crucial if your business relies on a single person as many start-ups do. Find someone trustworthy—someone who knows what you expect and what you don't expect. Make sure they know how to contact each other, as well as other people who can help out in an emergency if necessary.

5. Recognize that working from home isn't always ideal, and set boundaries now to avoid more problems later.

Come up with a plan to keep yourself on track. You can do this in the form of an informal buddy system, or a more formalized system, like having a 'time-manager' who monitors your hours.

Set boundaries for when you will work. For example, you might decide that Monday through Thursday from 9 AM to 6 PM are work hours and Friday from 9-5 is not work-related (with some exceptions for weekend meetings). This way if someone tries to schedule an urgent meeting for 2 PM on Friday, they are less likely to get upset if you have already set aside your non-work hours as off-limits.

It's ok to want a better work-life balance

I’m a big proponent of finding the right balance in your life. Yes, it's hard and stressful to find this balance, but I'd say that it’s worth it.

I know that many small business owners are guilty of working long hours and not taking time for themselves or their families. But I encourage you to try and change that if possible!

It's important to take care of yourself so that you can be happy and productive at work, otherwise, you may start feeling burned out or depressed which will affect how much time/money/energy etc…you have left over for other things in your life (i.e., friends and family).

Conclusion

You can't expect to be able to work all the time without any breaks. You'll get burned out, and that's no good for you or your business.