You get to the end of the day wondering where it went. By Friday you are running on empty, and when you finally get home you are too tired to enjoy it. Worse, when you are at work you feel you should be at home, and when you are at home you feel you should be at work.
If that sounds familiar, you are not alone. Work life balance for business owners is hard to get right, because nobody tells you when to stop. Pick the steps below that fit you, apply them properly, and the benefits build gradually.
1. Put the right fuel in the only vehicle you will ever own
Imagine the car you drive today had to last the rest of your life. You would look after it. Your body is that vehicle, yet many owners run it on minimal sleep, junk food and no exercise.
Choose food close to its natural state: an apple rather than apple juice, wholegrain bread rather than white, porridge rather than sugary cereal. Go easy on caffeine, sugary drinks and alcohol, which cause energy highs and lows. Everything in moderation. Spread your calories across the day, roughly:
- Breakfast, 25%: never skip it, or you will be grabbing biscuits by mid-morning.
- Lunch, 30%: a wholemeal sandwich and fruit is enough. On business lunches, choose fish, white meat or salad. It is your body and your choice.
- Dinner, 45%: your largest meal, ideally before 7pm.
2. Get a proper night's sleep
Most of us need between six and eight hours' sleep to feel alert all day. Sleep is when the body repairs itself and restores energy, so how you feel by day depends on how you sleep at night.
- Keep a regular schedule. Same bedtime and waking time every day, weekends included.
- Make the bedroom sleep friendly. Quiet, dark and cool, around 18°C, with a comfortable bed.
- Build a wind-down routine. Switch off the television and try reading, a warm bath or easy stretches.
- Watch the evening habits. No heavy meals within two hours of bed, no nightcap, no caffeine after lunch.
If worry keeps you awake, note the recurring theme so you can tackle it during the day. If you wake in the night, concentrate on relaxing rather than sleeping.
The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night's sleep.
E. Joseph Cossman
3. Keep your vehicle in shape with regular exercise
Exercise is one of the best ways to fight fatigue. The guide cites British Heart Foundation figures showing only 37% of men and 25% of women are active enough to benefit their health, while over 80% of those asked believe they are.
Rate yourself honestly from 1 (couch potato, no intention of starting) to 5 (exercising regularly for at least six months). Then follow the 3M formula recommended by the British Heart Foundation and the Department of Health: 30 minutes, most days, at moderate intensity. That means about five days a week, breathing a little faster but still able to hold a conversation, and the 30 minutes can be split into 5 to 10 minute slots.
"No time" is the usual excuse, but most of us find time for television. Walking is the easiest start: take the stairs, get off the bus a stop early. Choose a consistent time and never go more than one day without exercising.
4. Learn to relax and switch off fight or flight
Constant worry about cash flow, customers and costs keeps your body in permanent alert mode. The fight or flight response floods you with hormones such as cortisol, useful in a genuine emergency but damaging when it never switches off. It is like turning the thermostat to maximum and leaving it there: wasteful, unpleasant and ultimately harmful, yet you get used to it. The surgeon Sir William Ogilvie claimed he could look round a boardroom and guess who would be a future patient.
Find something that takes your mind off the business, such as sport, a hobby, time in nature or a good book, and do it at least once a week. Hours in front of the television with takeaways and alcohol may feel relaxing, but it is not healthy relaxation.
5. Work out your overwork quotient
Many owners assume more hours means more output. Often it simply means lower quality. Your overwork quotient is how many extra hours a day or week you can work before it becomes counterproductive.
Log your start time, breaks, finish time and daily totals for a few weeks, then notice how you feel when you go over your usual pattern. For many people, beyond nine or nine and a half hours a day their energy and enthusiasm drop noticeably, and most find their quotient sits between two and four hours a week.
Once you know your limit, plan your week to stay inside it and work effectively within those hours.
6. Set your priorities: work life balance for business owners is personal
A healthy balance does not have to be a 50/50 split. If your business is what you live for and it is not harming your health, spending most of your time on it may be right for you. For others, it is family time or a set number of holidays a year that matters.
Write down what matters most in your business and your life, then rank it. Seeing it on paper helps you judge whether each item really deserves to be a priority. Then look at the effect those priorities are having at work and at home. Talking them through with family and friends often shows up problems you are too close to see.
7. Overcome your reluctance to delegate
Many owners believe they are the best person for every job. Yet delegating well frees your time, builds your staff's skills and confidence, develops trust and forces you to be clear about what you expect.
- Commit to permanently delegating at least one significant task a month for the next twelve months.
- Start with time-consuming tasks that would do no real damage if done less than perfectly.
- Match the task to the person's experience, ability and motivation, and explain the outcome, timescale and measures of success.
- Do not let staff delegate back upwards. Remember who "owns the monkey" (Kenneth Blanchard) and ask for solutions, not just problems.
- Show interest, be available, praise success and help people learn from mistakes.
8. Ask for help sooner rather than later
Pride, not wanting to bother anyone and perfectionism stop many owners asking for help. Yet getting a problem out in the open with a member of staff, a trusted friend or family member is often the way out, and most people like being asked.
Recognise when you need help, even on small issues. Understand what is stopping you asking. And do not leave it too long: the sooner you ask, the sooner things improve.
9. Stop your mobile phone running your life
The phone is the electronic umbilical cord that keeps owners attached to the business around the clock. Set aside one or two hours a day when you do not take calls, record a message saying so, and turn off call forwarding and email alerts for that time.
When you do take calls, decide whether each is best handled now or later, and close by summarising the agreed actions. At home, switch off at a reasonable hour; on holiday, turn the phone on for just an hour a day.
10. Make time to have fun
Running your own business brings its own pressures, and it can easily take over. Do not let it drain the enjoyment out of your life. Make time to laugh and enjoy yourself with your staff, family and friends.
When you genuinely enjoy what you are doing, at work and away from it, it is easier to stay focused, keep your energy up and build a positive work-life balance.
Where to start
This week, start a simple log of your working hours: start, breaks, finish and how you felt by the end of each day. It takes a couple of minutes and gives you hard evidence of where your overwork quotient lies.
Alongside it, pick one physical change, such as a 15-minute walk each day or going to bed at the same time every night. Small, consistent steps add up faster than you might expect.