Balance and boundaries-where do I draw the line?

I do a lot of business and professional coaching. 9 times out of 10 the subject of work/life balance comes up. How do we establish boundaries for our work and family time? Are we allowing others to take over control of our schedule, pushing us towards burn out? There are 2 factors we need to consider when evaluating this.

First of all, the concept of pay time vs. no pay time. What are the activities we do that directly drive our business and revenue? For me this is training classes for my customers, customer meetings, prospecting and coaching. As far as no pay time is concerned, these are activities that don’t produce revenue. This can be lesson plans, internal meetings, expense reports, etc. We need to establish our “pay time and no pay time hours” and what activities will take place. Is there a meeting you don’t really need to be at? Are you spending too much time on reports? Are you avoiding prospecting with all kinds of no pay time activities?

After we establish what this looks like, we need to evaluate the time we spend in and outside work. Are we taking care of our health? Our marriage? Our family? Do we have enough energy at the end of the day to give our best to our personal life? It is easy to get sucked into life and work and let them overtake you. I would challenge you to not only have a set time that you “turn off your phone” at night, but also to dig deep and think of 3 things that you need to start doing to be more successful and 3 things that you need to stop doing to be more successful.

With me, I needed to make exercise more of a priority in my life. I can see that when I am disciplined with my workouts, I am more disciplined with my schedule and less stressed throughout the day. Nothing like throwing some big weights at CrossFit to get your aggressions out.

Are you spending as much time investing in your children, marriage, faith or family as you are developing your business? My mother was a very smart lady. She always told me that “You have to take care of yourself or you are no good to anyone else”. Evaluate your priorities and put a plan of action together to achieve your goals-both personal and professional. Establishing that balance will make you much happier and more successful in the long run.