How To Achieve Work-Life Balance For Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs get paid more than an average working guy because of their brilliant ideas and their grit to execute these ideas for a better society.
But as awesome as that sounds, entrepreneurs are not superhumans. There’s no Dr. Strange in the real world — nobody can manipulate time and multi-task like crazy. That’s just science fiction.
In the real world, entrepreneurs, like everyone else in the world, only have 24 hours in a day. They look like they can do everything at once but behind the scenes, some things are gotta give.
So how do entrepreneurs achieve a work-life balance?
Before we get into that…
What Does Work-Life Balance Mean?
Work-life balance means choosing to prioritize things that matter more to you over others so that you can live all aspects of your life harmoniously.
Entrepreneur work is challenging enough as it is. What more when you have to “balance” it with other aspects of life such as physical health, mental health, finances, spirituality, personal growth, recreation, and family and relationships? It gets overwhelming!
But perhaps people only think it’s overwhelming because of misconceptions. Work-life balance does not mean spending equal amounts of time and attention on yourself, your work, and your personal relationships. It does not get easier when you compartmentalize them. We only have one life they’re bound to mix up. Believing otherwise would be counterproductive.
Work-life balance boils down to making compromises. You get to choose what balance feels like for you. There’s no one-size-fits-all template here. At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide what makes you feel fulfilled in both work and personal life.
Do You Have a Good Work-Life Balance?
If work-life balance is about making choices, only you can determine whether you’ve achieved it or not. You won’t achieve it overnight so cut yourself some slack. It will take a lot of mistakes and realization before you find your center.
But if you’re wondering what a poor work-life balance looks like, these telltale signs might give you context:
- Working long hours on most days of the week
- Feeling like you’re trapped in a never-ending eat-work-sleep cycle
- Eating fast food and skipping exercise just to keep up with deadlines
- Accepting more work even if you already feel overwhelmed with your workload
- Always facing the screen, unaware of your physical surroundings
- Your spouse keeps nagging at you for always being absent
- You keep missing play dates with your kids all the time
- Your friends don’t bother to invite you to gatherings anymore because they’ll know you can’t make it anyway
Sound familiar? Good — you’re now aware that you need to change something. Entrepreneurs are doers, remember? So, the next crucial step is to bring that change into action.
5 Actionable Tips To Achieving Work-Life Balance for Entrepreneurs
Challenge your belief systems
Running a business is like an uphill climb. You will want to keep working your way upwards until you reach the peak. Once you’re on top, you take a breather and enjoy the view. After a while, you’ll move on to newer heights and keep on climbing.
Entrepreneurs seek opportunities to reach newer heights. Deep down, they fear that if they become complacent even for a little while and stop working for a minute, their business will lag. This is the scarcity mindset. We must challenge this belief system before we even start finding the work-life balance.
it’s okay to take a step back and give space for creative ideas to fill up your entrepreneurial mind now and then. Working long hours to the point of neglecting your health and your relationships is counterproductive. This will lead to burnout.
Alex Chaidaroglou of Altosight LTD said, “We are doing a disservice to our clients, team, and product if we burn out”. You’ll be draining out your creative juices and fuel. And when you’re just a hollow shell barking orders to your team or selling mechanically to your clients, it will sabotage your business.
Take care of yourself first
Whenever you’re feeling burnout from working too much, stop and rest. Aside from your team, you are the greatest asset of your company. A lot of people are depending on you — your employees, your team, and your loved ones. So you have to take care of yourself first so you can serve more.
First, start eating nutritious food and exercising. How can you enjoy your wealth when your health is slowly deteriorating? As cliche as it sounds, your health is truly your greatest wealth.
After taking care of your physical health, you also have to take care of your mental health. Surely you must have other passions aside from your business. Try different activities like learning a new language or a new instrument, painting, growing a vegetable garden, joining a book club, taking part in charity work, or creative writing. Even much better, go on a vacation and spend time with your family, or reconnect with your friends. Anything that sparks joy, go for it!
The goal is to feel refreshed and come back inspired.
Set boundaries
There are only so many activities you can fit in your 24 hours (that has to include sufficient sleep — remember Tip #2). We need to be reminded that the benefit of entrepreneurship is having a flexible work arrangement. You control your time, time shouldn’t control you. That means making tough choices and setting boundaries.
If your plate is already overwhelmingly full enough, learn to say NO. You don’t need to take every opportunity that comes your way (get rid of the scarcity mindset — remember Tip #1). As Adam Grant said, “saying NO frees you up to say YES when it matters most”. Think quality over quantity. But then again, saying NO gracefully requires practice. So better start now.
Delegate
Sure, there are also times when there are opportunities that are too good to pass. You can say YES but delegate the work to your team. In finance, you must be familiar with the concept of leverage. You need to hire trustworthy and competent teammates to grow the business with you. If you hoard all the work to yourself, you’re holding back the growth of your team.
Again, entrepreneurs are not superhumans. The mind can be limitless, but the body can be fragile. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from like-minded individuals with the same work principles. You need to get things off your plate to make space for other things you love to do. It’s also a good leadership opportunity to hone the skills of your teammates. Don’t be too rigid with them sucking up. All successful entrepreneurs sucked up too once upon a time.
Schedule as much as you can
When entrepreneurs are asked how they maintain a work-life balance, there’s a common answer — scheduling. It may sound wrong that you have to schedule an appointment with your family or friends. But that’s how modern times go. Everyone has somewhere to be all the time. They might tease you with all the tight schedules, but they’ll feel special when you reserve a bonding time with them.
At first, when things are just starting to get overwhelming, you’ll be disoriented. At this early stage, experiment with how you typically use your time. There are free downloadable time tracker apps online. Try to see what activities take up your time. Your goal is to make yourself aware of what needs to be improved.
Then, it’s time to prioritize matters. Remove the work that you can delegate, and the things you can afford to delay. That leaves you your “me time” and the activities that matter most to you — both in work and personal life.
Just like how you’re used to doing in business, block schedules off your calendar. Make sure to reserve both recharge time and hustling time. It doesn’t have to be 50–50. There may be times when you’re busy with work on the weekdays. But on the weekends and special occasions, you free up your schedule from work.
How Successful Entrepreneurs Live the Work-Life Balance
What does work-life balance actually feel like for successful entrepreneurs?
You can gain insight from a variety of answers coming from different perspectives in an Entrepreneur article, 35 Successful Entrepreneurs Share What Work-Life Balance Means to Them. Out of all the opinions from real entrepreneurs, the main theme revolves around making choices and hoping you find the balance somehow. It sounds vague, but it’s because work-life balance looks different for everyone. But the resulting feeling is the same — when you feel like your work inspires your personal life and vice versa.
Always Remember Your WHY
If you’re an entrepreneur reading this (or an aspiring one), I bet you chose that path because you want a better life — for yourself, for your loved ones, for your team, and the world. Truth be told, sacrifices are inevitable to get to a better life. But surely, it’s never worth sacrificing your health and your close relationships.
Always go back to your WHY. Let your purpose redirect your choices. Once you focus on your WHY, it’ll be easier to achieve the coveted work-life balance everyone dreams of.
