As an entrepreneur, you have one main goal in mind: success. However, often, our desire for success becomes the priority in our lives and everything else tends to take a backseat. When this happens, relationships with our family members and friends tend to fall apart, we quickly burn out and lose motivation, and our stress levels increase.
As an entrepreneur, a strong work/home balance is critical, but it often isn’t easy to achieve. Here are a few tips to help you find a little more balance in your life.
Avoid Overtime
It is important that you establish working hours and you stick to them. It is easy to work a few extra hours here and there to get ahead, to wrap up an important project, and to just get more done. However, these extra hours add up, and before you know it, you are spending all of your time focused on work.
Make a goal that once the workday is done, you shut off your computer and walk away. Avoid working any overtime hours. This will not only help you find some balance in your workday but you may also develop excellent time management skills to help you accomplish more each day.
Schedule Time to Check Emails
Did you know that the average worker spends up to 28% of their workweek checking and responding to emails? That means in a 40-hour workweek, the average worker spends more than 11 hours reading and responding to emails. Unfortunately, because emails take so much time away from your day, it isn’t uncommon to check emails first thing in the morning and in the evening when the workday should be complete.
Don’t do this!
Rather, schedule time throughout the day to check your emails. For example, shortly after turning on your computer, after lunch, and mid-afternoon, open your inbox and respond to all messages you’ve received. Throughout the rest of the day, particularly when you are at home, turn off all notifications, and avoid checking your emails. You will not feel weighed down with unanswered messages and you can better focus on other tasks.
Prioritize
An excellent way to manage your time is to prioritize your to-do list. Determine three to five tasks that are most important for that day. Spend the day focusing on those tasks and don’t worry about any smaller tasks that are unnecessary or time-consuming. This time management technique allows you to get more tasks done throughout the day and to increase your productivity levels.
Live a Healthy Lifestyle
You may not realize it, but the way you take care of your body will greatly affect your work/home balance. When you live a healthy lifestyle, you can better manage stress and you will allow yourself to relax. You will feel good about yourself, helping you want to strengthen and develop those important relationships with friends and family members. As you live a healthy lifestyle remember to:
- Eat well. Fill your diet full of fruits and vegetables and protein.
- Drink the recommended amount of water each day.
- Sleep the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep each night.
- Spend a minimum of 30 minutes each day doing something you love.
- Talk to at least one person outside of work you care about such as a friend or family member.
Balancing work/home life can be a challenge. When you have a community of powerful female leaders, business owners, and other entrepreneurs cheering you on, it becomes much easier and more attainable. Here at Diary of an Entrepreneur, we help and support one another. We offer a large collection of resources to help you find success as an entrepreneur and build yourself professionally and personally. Come check us out today to learn more.
