Happy belated Father’s Day to all of our Dad-repreneurs out there! We know first hand how hard it is to run a business and answer to dad duties. For those of you who still struggle to balance the two (all of us!), here’s what we find works best for juggling work and family.
POWER DOWN
Turning off email at night is one simple thing you can do to ensure your focus is on family. This can be especially hard if you work from home as well. It’s best to just leave your devices in your designated office until you return to them in the morning. Most of the time nothing is that important that it should interrupt your evening.
SET LIMITS
Whether at the office site or at the home office you need to set limits with yourself. Designate your “end of working day” time and be firm with it. The traditional 9-5 isn’t so much the norm anymore, but once 5 o’clock (or whatever time you designate) hits make sure you are done with business for the day. As mentioned, this means no checking email, no client communication, no staying up late working on projects. Learning to say no to things can be a tough lesson but it is one worth learning. This is the time that you have allocated to be focused on family and unwinding for the day.
PRIORITIZE LIKE A BOSS
Prioritize things that you value in life and work. Make sure you are only taking on career opportunities and ventures that allow you to develop personally and professionally. By intertwining the two, this will keep you focused and tear you away from anything that makes you “go through the motions” so to speak. Fulfilling yourself personally and professionally at work will keep you from burning out and make you a better man at home.
TIME MANAGEMENT
As an entrepreneur you are most likely juggling several tasks. Time management can seem like a no-brainer until you have to be in 3 places at once. Luckily for us humans there are plenty of tools that can help with this. Calendars, reminders, to-do lists, and task apps can help us stay on top of our game. Utilize these resources and get your employees on board as well so that you can practice effective and efficient communication.
WEEKEND WARRIOR
Make the most of your weekends. You may not be using the typical American work-week as your template but try to mimic it as best you can. Use your weekends as family time and keep them free from work. Try to engage in fun, mindless activities that take you away from the stress of work. Having free time is actually very healthy, so your weekends are when you can really dedicate yourself to family and personal time.
As dads and business leaders it may seem that you are always being pulled in a million different directions but hopefully these cues will keep you balanced and healthy. You can’t manufacture time so if you’re constantly being pulled to work, you will never have time to enjoy the things and people that you love.
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