Rushing home in a frenzy from work in order to stop at the grocery store so that the family will have something to eat and then running around like a bat out of hell grabbing whatever you can think of only to have a heart attack when you get to the till because you have spent the week's worth of grocery money on just one day is not work life balance.
Spending your whole weekend chauffeuring kids to and from birthdays and activities and trying to get some work done on your smart phone while you wait for the kids is not work life balance either.
Making dinner, cleaning up after dinner, doing laundry, washing the floor, putting kids to bed, just so you can maybe sneak in a little time to work on your business and then getting to those backed up emails does not sound to relaxing either.
Knowing your kids will probably describe you as being constantly on the computer or working during their childhood just won't work.
According to the New Zealand Government ''too many businesses fail because overworking has caused a breakdown in the owner's relationships.
'' They say that in order to run a successful business you need to spend a fair amount of time with your family.
It makes sense right? The reason most of us start a business is so that we can have the freedom to be with our families more often.
One of the dangers of being a business owner is that there is no 9-5 workday.
The workday ends when you stop working and that can be very difficult if you are on a roll, are motivated to work on your business.
Many business owners feel that if they are not giving their business 180 percent of their time they are not giving enough.
What is enough then? When you work too much you risk being overworked and exhausted.
The symptoms are being short tempered with your staff, your customers, your family and your family.
This can also lead to avoiding your friends and family sometimes sweeping important family issues under the rug to avoid the conflict that inevitably comes with them.
You can also miss out on opportunities or make decisions that negatively affect your business.
The worst thing you can do is to work yourself to the point of burnout.
When you cross the line into working too much it can be really difficult to get things back to normal.
One of the first steps you can take is to reevaluate what is really important to you.
You need to figure out how much time do you want to spend on your business.
Figure out what your time is worth.
Once you know what your time is worth you can begin to delegate or outsource the things that are not worth your time.
If you can make 100 dollars an hour why would you waste your valuable time to do things that do not bring you money in your business and can be outsourced for a fraction of the cost that you are worth.
Prioritize what you are going to do each and every day.
Make sure you have a task list and that you follow it.
If you always make sure that you do the things that will make you money and are the high value tasks you will get more done that actually matters.
Delegate the rest or skip it if it is not essential.
It is better to do the right things well then the wrong things right.
Make sure you schedule in time for yourself and your family.
Set a timer or an alarm clock and when it goes off stop what you are doing and leave the business at work, move into a family state of mind and focus on enjoying quality time.
Enjoy the time that you take off.
You may even need to schedule in small breaks throughout the day.
A good way to do this is to make sure you have 60 to 90 minutes of uninterrupted work time between breaks so that you can finish projects and get into work flow situations.
Set up projects at work to support you taking breaks.
Cluster your workload into 60 to 90 minute projects that should give you enough time to complete more intense tasks.
You can also find extra time to work on small tasks.
Set up 15 minute tasks that you can complete in waiting rooms, doctors offices or waiting in line on your smart phone.
Make sure you can accomplish the task.
Stop checking email all the time.
Checking email many times a day is a time waster.
Try instead to check your email 1-2 times a day.
That's it.
You won't miss anything important you might even be able to cut checking your email down to once a day.
If this makes you uncomfortable have an auto responder send out an email saying you will get back to them within 24 hours.
Find a mentor.
Find someone who owns their own business that really seems to have it together.
Find out what they are doing right then emulate it.
Sometimes just exchanging ideas with someone who understands where you are coming from will make you feel better.
Weed out your customers.
Usually 20 percent of the customers will give you 80 percent of the business.
Evaluate which customers are worth your while and pursue them more while letting the other ones slowly fade away.
Market to quality leads that will be good customers and you will have a better client base.
Consider why you spend so much time at work.
Do you feel overwhelmed with your responsibilities at home? Sometimes we spend time working because the responsibilities at home seem overwhelming.
Sometimes it just takes evaluating what your goals toward your family are and following the path to get you there.
If you tend to give in to your children because of guilt then ask yourself what your alternate goal for your children is.
If it is to bring up healthy well balanced confident individuals that can tell right from wrong and have a healthy self image then ask yourself if the upbringing you are giving them is fostering that.
If not it may be time to change your tactics.