As a small business owner, you know all too well how hard it is to juggle all the demands on your time. Finding ways to manage all the different aspects of your business is tough enough – and figuring out how to have a happy, successful home life at the same time can sometimes seem impossible. Here are some tips that may help with work-life balance, especially with the busy winter holiday season upon us, which is quite good for gambling games with people using online pokies win real money almost everyday.
Concentrate on what’s important
The late author and renowned leadership expert Stephen Covey (“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”) suggests that balance comes from aligning your priorities to be able to take care of what’s really important to you. Not what’s urgent. Or pressing. Or pleasant. Important.
The list of what’s important will look different for everyone, but be mindful of it when you’re scheduling tasks. Don’t sacrifice what’s important for everything else.
Schedule time away from work
If the days (and nights) are getting away from you, pencil in some “me time” on your calendar, and stick to it. Often, it seems we can’t let go or step away for even an hour, but the truth is, we will usually be more productive and energetic if we do.
Take a lunch break. Meet a friend for coffee. Get to the gym. Play games from bestcasinositesonline or any video games. You will still find the time to meet with customers and do the payroll each week. Carve out time for yourself and make it non-negotiable.
Don’t define yourself by your business
You are not your company. You work at the company, and you may even have founded it, but you are not the business itself, and you shouldn’t confuse the two. Maintain the boundaries that will help you keep your individual identity
Shut off your business cell phone after hours. If you work from home, keep your work area separate from your living space. Shut the door at the end of the day. Use a separate email address for work. Keep shop talk to a minimum at the dinner table. It’s okay to share about your day, but it shouldn’t be all you talk about.
Learn the power of saying no
It’s hard, we know. You’re so programmed to go after every opportunity to build the business, you want to sit on the committee, speak at the function, teach the workshop, etc. Before you know it, your circle of friends has narrowed to include most business relationships, and you see work associates more than you see your family.
To get things back in balance, you have to turn things down. (That may even mean turning down business that takes up too much of your time for too little return!) That’s okay. Do so pleasantly but firmly. If you feel the need to explain, say you couldn’t do the task justice right now and would never want to compromise the outcome. Then, to ensure your work-life balance, don’t allow yourself to be talked into it.
Think longer term and be flexible
It’s almost impossible to achieve a perfect work/life balance every day. Or sometimes, even every week or month. Part of the struggle is trying to hold onto unrealistic expectations during the times you can’t.
Some businesses make half their profit for the year during the holiday season. It’s understandable, then, that work may have to occasionally take precedence during that period. Go with it, but then promise yourself (and your family, if applicable) a reward when it’s over.
Understand that sometimes the balance sheet will show a credit, and other times a debit. The trick is to not have it permanently skewed one way or the other.