04 Jun Balancing Work and Family Life
Are you struggling with a balance between work and family? Today, people are busier than ever before, which creates a lack in either our work or personal lives. Below are some tips to help you balance work and family.
Focus on Quality of Time and not Quantity
Don’t focus on how much time you have at home or work. Rather focus on the quality of the time. When working, remain focused and use your time wisely. However, when at home, leave your phone and laptop in another room. Have dinner with your family and help your kids with their homework. Set aside time to spend with your life partner and create quality moments.
Determine your work-life rhythm.
Change your expectations, a 50/50 work lift balance is not realistic. There will be times that you will need to spend 100% of your time at work. Then others where your family will need 100% of your time. So, try and determine a work-life rhythm. For example, maybe Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday are 100% work days. However, your Wednesday and Friday, and weekend can be more family focused. Then own that and plan accordingly with your family.
Determine Efficiencies in your Workflow
Carefully look at your workflow from customer purchase of products/services and your team’s delivery of those products/services. Determine where you can create improvements in this workflow. This will cut down on your time and eliminate opportunity for errors that could cause more time.
Create boundaries and stick to them.
It is challenging as a small business owner to clock out when the time comes. Accept that there will be demands of running a business, which is why you need to set clear boundaries early on. Don’t fall into the trap of working around the clock, which can lead to sleep deprivation and general exhaustion. Once you set clear boundaries, it is important that you stick to them. It’s tempting to want to do everything, which also leads to feeling overwhelmed as a small business owner.
Set work hours and try to stick to them as much as possible. You may need to manage client expectations about your availability time.
Create a separate space for work and personal. This could be a room inside your home, your own office, or even a co-working space.
Being present in your business and your personal life. When spending time with family, try not to get distracted with business.
Get Comfortable with Saying “No”.
Determine your boundaries and stick to them! In other words, at work determine responsibilities for team members and ensure everyone is pulling their weight. At home, assign responsibilities to your children, life partners so that everything is not your responsibility. Only accept to work with volunteer causes that are dear to you. Limit your children’s extracurricular activities to those your children have the highest interest.
Schedule “Me” Time.
This really should be the first on the list. Without you, there is no business. You must take time off for you and take care of yourself. Do what works for you, this could be a spa day, going to the gym, reading a book, prayer. Whatever, helps to relax you and de-stress you. This will make you a better business owner, mother, partner, friend, a better you.
Ask for help.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help, whether in business or personal life. There should be people in your life that can help with both. Whether that is a mother or friend, that can pick up the kids from childcare. To another business owner that can provide advice on that major decision you need to make. Utilize the people in your life that care about you to help when needed.
I’d love to meet you on Instagram: here. If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it on Instagram, FaceBook, or Twitter below.
Other Resources
10 Ways to Encourage a Healthy Work-Life Balance for Employees