How to Achieve a Healthy Work-Life Balance
As business owners ourselves, we know how it can be when you’re just starting out. You want to be all things to all people, and you’re committed to working on your dream until the early hours of the morning to make it happen.
But it is possible to have too much of a good thing, which is why work/life balance is so crucial, even in the early stages of your business when you’re powered by sheer force of will and your favorite caffeinated beverage. Here’s what to know to help make the process more balanced and avoid burnout:
Don’t try to be everything to everyone
As a business owner, especially a startup, you get to be your own boss, yes, but also your own:
- Accountant
- Website Designer
- Content Creator
- Marketer
- Social Media Manager
- SEO Specialist
- Networking Professional
And that’s just scratching the surface! You’ll quickly find that in trying to be all things to all people, you naturally do a half-baked job at all of them because there simply isn’t enough time to devote yourself to a single task in a single discipline. Spreading yourself too thin in this way leads to a lot of mistakes, oversights, misunderstandings, and other issues that can easily be avoided by not trying to be all things to all people.
Know your strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, capitalize on those strengths. Do what you do well first and foremost and get help for the rest (more on that below!)
Set your work hours — and stick to that schedule
Along with not running yourself ragged trying to be everything to everyone comes the need to set your work hours and stick to that schedule. You may find that you work best first thing in the morning by tackling a big, meaty project, and then tying up the loose ends at the end of the day. Or conversely, you may discover that your morning starts best, mounting up lots of little victories before you dive, coffee or tea in hand, into the big project that requires more of your skills.
However, you choose to divide up your day, make a schedule and stick with it. The routine will become comfortable and familiar, and most importantly, you’ll be playing to your strengths as you grow your business.
Realize that there will be peaks and valleys in your energy levels
We’re only human. And as the day goes on you’ll find that some tasks require all of your concentration and focus, and others you struggle to get through. And it’s not a matter of whether you like to do them or not, It’s simply how the body works. You can’t be firing on all cylinders, all the time.
Knowing how your body’s own internal clock works lets you make the most of your day when your energy levels are high while tackling less-important, less-concentration-intensive tasks when they’re low. Everyone has a different rhythm to their day and learning what yours is and unlocking it according to your schedule will allow you to use your energy to the fullest during times throughout the day where you can make the most impact.
Make your workspace work for you
This is a critically important step, especially now that remote working has become more popular. An ergonomic workspace is not only good for your energy levels but your body as well. As you put in all those hours of work, you’ll want to make sure that you are sitting at the correct height for your monitor and that you have the right ergonomic office chair and keyboard to support your back, shoulders and wrists.
Sure, the ergonomic versions of these office must-haves may be more expensive than the standard ones, but they are absolutely worth the price! Your body will thank you!
Get some extra help from the professionals
Last but certainly not least, if you find that your marketing tasks are falling more and more by the wayside, it’s perfectly normal to ask for help. At Workdom, we’ve helped hundreds of small business owners in a variety of industries tackle their marketing to-do lists, creating and launching campaigns, setting budgets, scaling growth, crafting content, updating the design, and much more.
We invite you to reach out to our senior advertising professionals to learn more about how we can help your business grow. From social media to website design, Martech stack optimization to content creation, connect with us and learn how our chat-based, on-demand marketing service can help you get more done in less time.
Originally published at https://www.workdom.io on August 13, 2021.
