“We came into this world head first and go out feet first – in between it’s all about balance, life’s all about balancing.” — Paul Boese
Balancing Business Drives Results
Many business owners who have achieved milestones and have been running a successful and optimally productive company do so because they love their job and are driven by passion. However many of them struggle with accomplishing the work-life balance; a subtle goal of working manageable hours typically 9 to 5, having spare time to spend with the near and dear ones on recreational activities, getting enough sleep, having healthy and regular meals, and have time to exercise in order to maintain a well-rounded life.
As a matter of fact, a recent study by the American Sociological Review revealed that 70 percent of Americans have been struggling to find such a work-life system that works for them, in other words, that makes them genuinely happy. Most of them believe that they are far away from achieving any type of work-life balance. Do you have a work-life balance? For them, it’s nothing but a myth, essentially when technology and globalization have made us reachable around the clock. Despite the fact that there are countless ways to balance life it seems like time after or before the workplace is rather more elusive.
Not only are you supposed to balance your company’s requirements but also you need to get a synchronized work-life balance. See the point is, always remember to live your life in making a living. Yes, that’s the third secret for success and creating massive wealth.
MAKE DELIBERATE CHOICES ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT IN LIFE! MAKE DELIBERATE CHOICES ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT IN LIFE!
Businesspersons or successful people who don’t have a plan are driven by whatever comes their way and those, who are well equipped with the plan, are the ones driving everything according to their way. Instead of just allowing someone else to take the steering wheels of your life’s decisions you have to make deliberate choices about what you really want from life and how to sort out your schedule according to your PRIORITY list! That is how you will achieve a perfect combination of work-life balance.
Talk to your business partners, spouses, colleagues, family, and others whom you consider important in your life, and come up with a statically defined roadmap of what is important to you. Have a sound and substantial plan.
Ask yourself the following:
- Do I have a plan for the upcoming week?
- There is a family function next month, how do I work so that I can wrap it up on time?
- Am I prepared for the next three months? Next six months?
- The next four months seem to be a bit busy; can I balance my personal and professional life optimally?
- Also in addition to that plan, do I have my mission and vision, and am I going to follow it, how do I improvise if need be?
Now that you understand that a balanced life is equally important, let’s discuss how one can keep up with this essential trait.
Keep a regular check on – WHAT’S WORKING AND WHAT ISN’T
To keep moving is to keep a proper balance and to balance yourself you need to ensure that all the nuts and bolts are right there where they belong. Work-life balance going south and leaving the tracks is usually a result of letting things slip and is conflicting to any kind of self-interest or say as opposed to any kind of intentional choice.
To stay right on track you have to know whether or not your products are working, and your relationship with your family, spouse, business partners, and staff is going well. Make a conscious choice to regularly talk to the people who have expertise in this particular area.
For instance, business coaches can help you a great deal if you’re stuck in any professional situation or you are continuously failing to achieve your desired goals. While life happens and situations change, you should avoid ending up in a place, as we discussed in the former chapter, that not every quitter is a loser.
Your work is a part of your life, set aside time for family and friends as well.
Well, this is no secret, a million dollars in your bank account won’t be worth spending until you have someone to spend it with. You don’t have to necessarily wait for the weekends, Easter, or any other bank holiday for that matter to see your kids, to catch up with your parents, or to spend quality time with your spouse.
Of course, you don’t have to neglect the work for this. All you have to do is make a habit of planning and booking time off to spend outside of work and safeguard this time without any fail. Your rule of thumb should prioritize the work but also should be flexible enough to be present if any emergencies were to happen or any situations were to occur that demand your immediate attention.
Set your own parameters of success
Do not let others tell you what is good or bad for your interest. If you do so, you’ll be nothing more than a talented commodity being misled for their survival. And frankly speaking, I don’t want that, I want you to succeed, I want you to prosper and generate massive wealth. That is the sole purpose of this book.
In order to accomplish an optimized work-life balance, you have to develop a strong sense of who you are; that will include your strengths, your mission, your vision, your values, and your weaknesses too. You have to understand from the very beginning that this particular goal, objective, or purpose is important to me and I will not stop until I achieve it.
Now, when you use this as a guideline or a pathfinder for everything you do, you determine your own definition of success for yourself. For you to comprehend happiness, know what makes you happy and strive to get more of that in your life and you shall never walk in depression. Remember, you don’t have to prove the fact that you are balancing your work-life well, rather you just have to do it according to your schedule.
Don’t exercise “guilt” business and turn off the distractions
I have discovered that most of the business owners and other people work at unusual hours, mostly at night (they say they are most accomplished during this quiet time). Let me tell you what that is, this practice is anything but productive. Working at late nights and spending the entire daytime on mobile phones or being chained to emails is not going to get you success and is certainly not going to deliver the desired results. This is known as guilt business and you do not want to perform it if you want to see prosperity showering upon you. It will burn you out quickly!
You have to maintain the balance, right? So, do yourself a favor and turn off the electronic devices during your work and also when you are out with your family. Just enjoy quality, uninterrupted time every once in a while, doing whatever you like, and it can enhance your productivity.
Long, story short – multi-tasking is a myth! You have to put your maximum effort and time into the task at hand. Having developed the ability to compartmentalize each task’s time, you will be able to seek out moments to simply cherish the experience and savor life.
This competitive era has made our life nothing but hectic, yet there are people who are continuously progressing over time, and most important of all, they don’t struggle to find a work-life balance. You can seek solace too, by the virtue of meditation, swimming, music, yoga, tennis, other outdoor sports, or some other interest that allows you to get away from the pressures of everyday life to relax, rejuvenate, and regenerate yourself.
Align your goals with your passion and build a strong network.
Your passion will demand some sacrifices. That’s guaranteed, so you better ensure that you develop those healthy habits. Doing so will not only make you disciplined but also you will be capable of avoiding situations or circumstances that will control you and will dominate your decisions in life.
To accomplish balance you have to have a defined plan around time frames and must be willing to make some genuine sacrifices to get what you want in the end. Suppose you started a venture. If you plan to spend a substantial amount of time in the early part of your venture and ensure its foundation is unshakable, it is just a matter of time that you will start noticing balance down the road.
You have to take those early mornings and late nights grinding as a sacrifice that will authorize you to spend more time and energy on other projects once you have established the business.
If you plan to achieve the second thing on your priority list (after accomplishing the number first, of course) it is advisable to have a strong support network you can rely on. This network should comprise only those people whom you can count on during difficult times.
Leave Enough Margins in Your Life
You see the phrase, “Leave enough margins in your life” is really simple to comprehend yet highly effective. What I mean here is that in your entrepreneurial ideas and endeavors make sure you don’t over-commit anything in order to avoid any sort of hindrance to the other priorities in your life. Plan your schedule in such a manner that there is a time “cushion” in place just in case if your project or any other commitment ends up consuming more time than you thought it would initially.
I completely second this notion for the reason it provides you some room to buffer against commitments that will take away from things that you hold close to you. I suppose the takeaway in all this is to actually prioritize the things in your life that matter most to you and value them enough to the point that business doesn’t suck the living soul out of you.
So by now you pretty much understood the key ingredient to balancing it all is distributing your time efficiently in such a manner that you don’t wake up with any regrets.