Owning your own business can be an all-consuming affair. As most small business owners know, it is not just a job, it’s a lifestyle. It’s not unusual to find entrepreneurs seeing their work days expand to fill 10-12 hours a day, seven days a week. In fact, many feel guilty about abandoning their business tasks if they choose to take time for themselves or their family.
Basically, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time for everything we need and want to do. Working long hours takes a toll emotionally and physically. But what about the toll it takes on the business itself? Think about it: when we’re tired, we’re not focused. Inevitably this leads to burnout and bad decisions, which if consistent, can lead to an eventual demise of everything we’ve worked so hard for. It’s more risky than we know.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Although life will always provide us with inevitable twists and turns, once we learn to manage our time wisely, much of the day-to-day chaos in our lives can be reduced or even eliminated.
Extreme Jobs: The Dangerous Allure of the 70-Hour Workweek. In the December 2006 issue of Harvard Business Review, authors Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carol Buck Luce describe what is termed “extreme jobs,” which entail workweeks of 60 or more hours and have at least five of ten characteristics–such as tight deadlines and lots of travel—drawn from the authors’ research on this work model.
The research outcome and authors’ insights present an intricate picture of the all-consuming career. A strong majority (66%) of extreme professionals in the United States say they love their jobs, and in the global companies survey, this figure rises to 76%. However, this type of work pattern and overarching style, which can be rewarding for some, brings with it inherent dangers to individuals and society. In particular, the authors note that women are at a general disadvantage, as they are not matching the long hours of their male counterparts. In this case, employers have an opportunity to better leverage the talents of women who are committed and responsible, but are unable to work the long hours.
8 Practical Steps for Getting Your Balance Back
There are some practical steps you can take to ensure that you maintain the balance that is not only essential to your personal health, but also to the health and vitality of your business. While you may have heard some of these before, we can’t emphasize enough how critical these tips are for keeping the backbone of yourself and your business thriving.
1. Develop a work schedule: Your work schedule should include time for yourself as well as time for the maintenance of your business. Schedule in time for responding to email, for a cup of tea, for returning phone calls, for working on specific projects. Make time for daily exercise. Remember that we don’t operate on two separate channels – work and personal – these are integrated and each requires the same level of attention in order to achieve a productive balance.
2. Seriously prioritize your tasks. After you’ve determined the fundamentals of your workload, prioritize them by identifying significant deadlines, routine maintenance items, and relaxation time.
3. Start with the most troublesome task. This will reduce your anxiety level for the next task. Working “downward,” in this sense, can provide a sense of accomplishment as you get complex or annoying tasks out of the way early.
4. Be conscious of your stress threshold. When you’ve reached your limit, take the break you need. There’s no way around it — too much stress, whether caused by personal or professional issues, will undoubtedly result in decreased productivity.
5. Stay organized. Take time either at the beginning or the end of each day to organize your workspace and make reminder lists. For many, keeping an online list of tasks with associated timelines is helpful; others may prefer the “physical” nature of a notebook. Either way, it’s vital to keep the list up to date and prioritize it regularly.
6. Build flexibility into your schedule. Your availability to family and friends depends on the flexibility you build into your schedule.
7. Assess the relationship between your business and personal life. Keep in mind what is most important to you, as an individual. This means being honest about your long-term business and personal goals as well as your personal or business partner’s goals. Find out if these goals are in sync or in conflict and decide how to best address each to achieve them in the least stressful ways possible.
8. Have fun! It’s essential to have fun while working. Keeping a good sense of humor leads to a natural adjustment in perspective. All of your organization efforts will bear no fruit if you are not balancing your personal and professional life well, even if you have to schedule it in.
Each of these elements is related and works together to bringing you the balance you deserve. Remember to revisit these on a regular basis to make sure that you are achieving the balance that is essential to both personal and business success.
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