Is a Balanced Life Even Possible When You’re a Business Owner?
For many of us, a balanced life just seems like an impossibility. January is Get a Balanced Life month, which may seem like a resolution that’s destined to fail more than anything else.
By now, we’ve figured out that you really can’t have it all, at least not at once. (Right? It’s a myth, just like multitasking is.) Expecting to do everything you want whenever you want in the modern world just isn’t feasible. Not even for those of us who don’t have kids or a partner to contend with.
Having said that… having a balanced life is possible.
What is a balanced life with productivity in the workplace?
Many people believe that a balanced life means each day is balanced between work, parenting (if applicable), developing your relationships with your spouse/partner (if applicable), social events, and hobbies. That’s a long day even before you factor in eating, movement, and sleeping.
It’s tempting to skimp on sleep or exercise in order to create more hours in the day. Either one is a short-term “fix” that doesn’t actually solve anything. In the long term, you’re likely to end up sick, injured, and/or burned out.
Which begs the question of how you get everything done in a day. The answer is, you don’t.
There’s always another task you could be doing, especially if you’re a business owner. But most of them won’t move your business forward. Giving up on being busy and focusing only on the top three critical items each day will.
Even so, balancing everything every 24 hours is highly unlikely. The most rational way to look at a balanced life is from the 30,000 foot view and over the long term.
And what does “balanced” mean anyway? In the financial planning world, a “balanced portfolio” can mean 40% of the portfolio in bonds and 60% in stocks, or 50% in each category, or 60% in stocks and 40% in bonds, or 40% in stocks, 40% in bonds, and 20% in alternatives… and so on.
Therefore the question isn’t so much “What does balance mean” as “What does balance mean to you?”
Is a balanced life one where you spend most of your waking hours working?
Is it REALLY?
Or is life for living, being with the ones you love, doing activities that are interesting and fun for you, resting when you need to, going to the beach/mountains/desert/cultural hotspots that you enjoy, and learning new things?
Balance and productivity vary during your lifetime
At different times of your life, your priorities may shift. You might be more work-oriented before age 70. Depending on your life situation, you’ll probably spend more time parenting in your 20s, 30s, and 40s.
Even when you’re more work-oriented, there may be some circumstances where work has to take a back seat. Your illness, or that of someone close to you, may require rounds of treatments or surgeries at the hospital.
Even though now is the time I want to focus on my business, I did very little work a year and a half ago when my mom was diagnosed with bone cancer and for a few months after she died. Maybe it set my business back a little bit, but I don’t regret it. I needed that time, and I’m glad I had it.
When someone close to you is really going through it, there’s no shame in stepping back a bit from business to take care of them. I suspect you would regret not doing so to your dying day.
But sometimes you're the one who needs time, and it’s important to take care of yourself.
Productivity in the workplace, like balance, starts at home
Prioritizing is key not only for feeling like you’re more in balance, but also for getting stuff done without working more hours. You can fill up every hour with busy work … or you can prioritize what really needs to be done and leave yourself time for things like playing with your pets or going to dinner with your friends to catch up.
What do you need to feel like you have a good life balance? What are the things that nourish you outside work? Maybe you need to talk to your kids/parents/spouse every day, or every week. Maybe you need time for your favorite hobby, even if it’s only on the weekends.
Most people don’t feel like they need more house cleaning, meal preparation, grocery shopping, or laundry to feel balanced, and those are not high priorities for most business owners. What to do? Delegate (unless those are sources of joy or stress release for you – in which case, have at it!)
Maybe your partner or kids pick up the slack on cleaning, and laundry, and cooking. Or, you hire someone or some thing to do the job for you: a robot vacuum for cleaning, for example. Take the laundry to a laundromat where they do it for you. Hire a housekeeper. Shop for groceries online, and if it makes sense, subscribe for items you often run out of.
Yes, it’s more expensive. If outsourcing frees you up for the things that really speak to you emotionally and help you destress, wouldn’t it be worth it?
Counterintuitively, recharging and taking care of yourself are productive things to do
Being able to take care of yourself at home and doing things that you enjoy make you more productive in the workplace. Modern culture is very good at hiding this fact and pushing for more work and less resting and recharging. But that doesn’t mean you have to succumb to it.
Yes, you need to be a little brave to avoid cultural messages and take your life back. It may take you a little bit longer to figure out what balance really looks like for you, as well as what balance looks like this day, this week, or this month. Yet grinding away at work only grinds you down.
If you’re a business owner, right now you may need to prioritize work because you’re trying to get your business off the ground or in a sustainable place. That’s great!
However, you still need to make sure you’re getting some recharging time when you can and that you don’t let your sleep or exercise habits go to make room for more work. Rest and activity are non-negotiable, at least if you don’t want to burn out or get sick.
Recap (tl;dr):
A balanced life doesn’t mean that every day (or even most days) is perfectly balanced between work and other activities. Priorities and productivity will help you at home and work, so pay attention to them and avoid grinding yourself down into burnout.
Struggling with prioritizing or arranging your schedule to have a productive day most days? Schedule a free consultation to see how I can help.