The late night phone calls (from international team members), crumpled pieces of paper in my pocket with phone numbers (of sales leads I have yet to contact) … and I admit, I have been spending a lot of time at the office.
All of these things have finally caught up to me. And as hard as I try to hide it, I think she knows what’s going on.
Caught in the Act with My Startup
As an entrepreneur you automatically spend a lot of time with your startup. But my significant other and I agreed that when I started a business I would maintain a sense of balance in life. However, as most entrepreneurs know, building a business is a time consuming endeavor. When you’re the boss, the to do list is always full and there’s never enough time to complete half of the items on it.
But, I realize that maintaining a personal and professional balance is not only a good idea, but it can save your relationship. So, after careful consideration (which included planning, a bit of prioritization and strategy) I have personally identified key action steps that have improved my work-life balance as a successful entrepreneur.
Seven Ways to Create Immediate Life Balance
If you ever find yourself in limbo — whether it includes managing priorities as a husband, wife, friend, etc. here is a concise outline of things you can do today to improve your personal and professional life tomorow — without sacrificing either:
1. Share your long term business goals and mutual expectations.
2. Schedule quality time in which you’re prepared to not discuss business at all — unless you receive a call from “insert industry leader name here” and they want to acquire your company.
3. Create a more structured schedule that allows you to optimize “business time” in order to be more available “after hours.”
4. Delegate your workload to team members so everything doesn’t sit solely on your shoulders.
5. Brainstorm ways to get your significant other involved in your business, if he or she is willing.
6. Incorporate more technology to create productive downtime (e.g. smart phone, laptop, etc).
7. Be cognizant of how your significant other is feeling and communicate often.
Managing various relationships in your life can only be accomplished if you designate time and effort to improving your situation.
Consistently working on these concepts have helped me to develop a better work-life balance. Overall, realizing that a potentially difficult dynamic exists will help you preclude issues upfront and maintain a healthy balance of business and pleasure.
If you have additional tips that have proven to be beneficial, I would love to hear them. Feel free to share them below so we can learn from your success.
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