From the course: Small Business Secrets

Focusing both at home and at work

From the course: Small Business Secrets

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Focusing both at home and at work

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The idea of being a business owner can be very attractive because you feel like you're going to have more flexibility, more freedom, more time to do the things that you love. The reality is a little different though, because it's very consuming to be a business owner. There's no natural boundary telling you when it's time to stop. And you just love the business. You want to keep working on it and helping it succeed. Also on the other side is the reality that most businesses are family businesses. No, you may not have family members working in your business. But they are affected by the lifestyle that you chose as a business owner. What I want to share with you are five tips to help you maintain better balance in your work life and in your personal life as a business owner. Number one, is the concept of a finish line. You want to define a finish line. I got this concept from the business owner, who is also a mom. And she likens the idea of being a business owner to driving in a race, which is a great analogy, right? You're working so hard, so fast. But you also want to define that time in the day that the race ends the finish line. Take your calendar and define what that time of the day is. Perhaps, it changes from day to day, but we want to make a commitment to the finish line. That's the point at which you're going to stop work and begin personal life. Number two is having transition time. This relates to the finish line. But your mind is often caught up in being a business owner. You're so consumed with the thought of business, that even if you hit that finish line, you're still thinking about work while at home. This is why I recommend that business owners find some sort of healthy hobby, something that creates a natural transition mentally for you, so that you can start to think a little bit more about your personal life. Some examples might be going for a walk, a commute, surfing. Personally, I play video games for 30 minutes. Whatever you choose, just choose something that relaxes your mind and your body and gets you ready to enjoy being with loved ones or just being yourself. Number three are having having gatekeepers. These can be people or systems that you put into place that create a barrier so that you don't get interrupted during that personal time. For instance, for not too much money, you can hire an answering service to field calls during your off hours. And then if they're critical or emergencies, they go through, but most of those calls can be held off until the morning. Number 4 is creating sanctuary time. Now, in particular, I am talking about technology. If you always have your phone or your tablet, or your computer in front of you, it's very easy to get sucked back into the business. Instead, let's establish some times of the day, some period within the week, where we don't touch technology. Yes, it'll still be there when we get back. But there's that sanctuary that allows your mind to relax and not get constantly bombarded by all the beeps and the buzzes. And number five is to improve your personal systems. By personal systems, I mean, the process that you use as an individual to answer your email, your voice mail, to schedule things in your calendar, all of your physical stuff. Some business owners, when they improve their business systems, can gain as much as an entire work week every single month. There's no resource I can recommend better than my course on time management fundamentals here on Linda.com, that will teach you the process of improving your personal systems. The idea here is that you have control, as the business owner. You can put processes into place that gives you better balance in your life, and help you be more successful in your business.

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