It’s one thing to come home and complain about the boss who doesn’t understand your needs at home, but what about when that boss and business owner is you?
Entrepreneurs are experiencing the same work life struggles but the fight is internal. Do I keep working on this proposal or take time out for my daughter’s soccer game? There are costs on either side so it’s not an easy call. The Princeton Review states that the average number of working hours for a successful starting entrepreneur is 70 per week. And because every bit of work is contributing toward the betterment of the business, there is immense pressure on every decision.
And those decisions haunt entrepreneurs in an endless sanity-stressing stream: in the shower, just before bed, while stuck in traffic and certainly when browsing travel sites. A constant back and forth and cost benefit analysis for decisions–many of which affect their private lives, are conducted tens of times a day.
Kelly Walsh, 20 year human resource veteran, president of 1SmartLife and author of the Teeter Totter Conundrum, offers suggestions for dealing with the internal bargaining that entrepreneurs go through:
- It’s lonely at the top and it’s lonely when you are a solo -preneur. Perspective is needed. Define your values and goals clearly and get an accountability partner to meet with weekly to ensure you are on track. Are your activities matching up?
- Stress stat – trying to do it all can take us to stress stats where we have an abundance of data where health suffers and no goals can be met.
- Define success (what are your metrics? Satisfying relationships, $$, Esteem in the community etc.) Depending on your metrics, you may not need to pull 70-80 hour work weeks…
- Don’t seek balance…if you are doing what you love and not hurting others…why not submerge yourself in it if that’s what you want to do? Some people feel they are living the dream…being their own boss so who are we to say they need to structure their life on different terms?
Kelly Walsh is an expert in work-life balance practices and employee negotiating tactics.
