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Too many entrepreneurs try to juggle everything at once — both at work and at home — and this ends up holding them back in both areas. When you’re working, you feel guilty for not being with your family, yet when you’re with family, all you can think about is all the work that has yet to be done. I really don’t believe in “balance” as a real-life concept.
The cliché that work-life balance is a perfect seesaw of 50% career and 50% family is a myth. Life doesn’t work that way. Be fully invested in both. When you’re with your spouse or your kids, give them your full attention. When you’re working, zero in on your clients and deliver your best. Never let one world bleed into the other so much that you’re physically present but mentally checked out.
Stop believing that “balance” means counting and comparing hours. Be fully present with your family during dinner, not face down staring at your phone. Work and life will always pull at your attention. Acknowledge this pull and then block out non-negotiable family time the same way you schedule your important business meetings. Put it on the calendar and then guard that time.
Related: Work-Life Balance is Easier to Achieve Than You Think
1. Stop doing everything at once
Entrepreneurs are wired to do it all. We wear every hat from sales, finance, marketing and HR to operations…because we believe that if it’s going to be, it’s up to me! But this “do it all” mindset hits a ceiling quickly. Whenever you’re knee-deep in your long to-do list, you’re spending hours that could’ve been spent on strategic moves that actually push your business forward. This is the same at home. You can’t be everything for everyone all at once. You’ve got to “give up to go up.” This means hiring, delegating or outsourcing what isn’t your genius zone.
This might be as simple as hiring an executive assistant to help handle your admin tasks and manage your email inbox or a bookkeeper or office manager to prevent you from wrestling with spreadsheets at midnight. At home, hire a babysitter when you want to take your spouse out on a date. Start by identifying three things — both at work and at home — that you can hand off to someone else to make more room for your most important work.
Related: How to Say ‘No’ to Others
2. Slow down and spend your time wisely
You will never be efficient when you’re constantly distracted. Decide when the workday ends. I finish my last work-related calls and close my laptop at 6 p.m., not to be reopened until the kids are in bed after 9 p.m.
At home, set up areas where gadgets are off-limits, like at the dinner table or during kids’ bedtime. Block out a few hours on weekends for outdoor activities or family movie nights. When you’re done with work, break away fully so you can recharge. I personally love to play basketball or spend time bodyboarding and bodysurfing in the ocean. Those activities allow me to lose track of time and really disconnect from technology and work.
As your kids get older, you’ll notice just how fast the years fly by. As a father of five kids, I’m speaking from experience. They’ll never come out and say, “Dad, thank you for spending more time on those emails at night.” They’ll remember the road trips, the weekend barbecues, those games where they saw you in the bleachers cheering them on. Slow down and be intentional. These moments pay off in spades. It’s become normal for entrepreneurs to speed right past our victories. Close a big deal, finalize a partnership, make a big new investment or hire and before we know it, we’re onto the next big target. But this continued forward drive without reflection and recharging leads to burnout.
3. Celebrate wins with your family
As “Type-A achievers,” we often reach a goal and then quickly aim for the next big thing, with zero pause between the win and the next chase. This is the reality for most entrepreneurs; it’s part of our DNA to keep pushing forward and striving for more. I’ve been told I need to take it easy and “do less,” but that’s hard advice because I want to leave no potential untapped.
Instead of always running on the hamster wheel, force yourself to hit “pause” once in a while. Take your partner out to that new restaurant you’ve been wanting to try. Book a weekend away where you leave the laptop at home and the cell phone on silent. Maybe even just sit down, pen in hand, and write down everything you’ve learned and achieved over the past year. Those quiet moments of reflection give you time to catch your breath and exhale a bit.
And here’s the best part: when you celebrate and reflect with your loved ones, you let them experience your wins, too. Sharing your wins with the people you love really acknowledges their support and contribution and that they’re an important part of your journey.
4. Be fully invested in everything you do
I’ve met many business owners who could buy just about anything they wanted, but they have broken marriages and no relationships with their kids. Their family life is an afterthought—something they planned to get back to “someday” once the deals were done and their business reached an arbitrary level.
To me, that’s not what success means. To earn a ton of money at the expense of your family relationships (and/or your health) is not the way to go. It’s not easy to win in business and at home, but it’s entirely possible. It will take sacrificing some of the hobbies and vices that waste a lot of time, but it’s worth it.
My family life is not perfect, but we have strong relationships and a history of family traditions that mean a lot to us. It’s been said many times that “no success can compensate for failure in the home.” And I’ll forever strive to lead high achievers to prioritize their family and their business success at the same time.
A strong family life will help you succeed in your business career, and if you put things first, you’ll be in a better position to create the life of your dreams. And that’s worth more than any paycheck or accolade you could ever earn.
