For entrepreneurs, trying to find more time to enjoy life is akin to seeking the Holy Grail. No matter how sad it may sound, but your searches will be in vain. Yes, only 24 hours in a day. No more, no less. However, it is almost impossible to combine career and personal life. You may think that you need to correctly allocate time, so hurry to study all the books on time management (from the English. Time management - "time management"). But in fact, you just need to prioritize.
What is important to you?
You can firmly believe that work is the most important thing in your life, but is it really so? Of course you want your business to be successful, but at what cost? If you fall out of life and spend 24/7 at work, then this approach will not benefit either you or your business. I found that entrepreneurs who focus on family, friends, self-care and hobbies achieve great success in business.
When I ask entrepreneurs about their life values, I find out that relationships in their lives take priority along with financial freedom. Many believe that this very freedom that business will ever give them should come first. In fact, prioritization can be a catalyst for success. With the right attitude, reasonable choices, and correctly set boundaries, this does not have to be true.
Identify and list the three main things in your life. What do you need to feel happy? I bet that financial freedom is on your list or somewhere nearby. In the end, that's why you became a businessman, right? Feeling the taste of this freedom, it will be more difficult to abandon it
Review your priorities carefully
There are 3 things to explore:
- The type of work you are doing.
- Fears and anxieties that keep you from what you should be doing.
- The habits that you have formed regarding spending time between tasks.
Set priorities and get rid of bad habits
How much time do you spend between tasks and meetings discussing what you should do? It only overloads the brain and confuses. Perhaps, on the contrary, in every possible way you drive away thoughts about what should be done now. How much time do you spend checking emails or scrolling through social media feeds? Perhaps you are more immersed in research and planning than necessary. If you are honest with yourself, you will acknowledge that you are wasting your time, and don't spend it productively. Such habits usually only create the appearance of employment. This is the result of a lack of clarity, overstrain and procrastination due to fear.
Keep a diary
Studies show that those who claimed that their workweek lasts more than 75 hours were far from the truth. On average, they overestimated the real number by 25 hours. These people, most likely, did not intentionally lie. You may feel that you are working for more than 75 hours when you are not setting the right priorities. Non-productive activities fill your free time. You don’t even have time to look around when you already miss dinner, and it will become dark outside. The diary will help determine the "empty" activities and how much time they take from you. If you can delegate some work - do it. Money spent on new employees will pay off, or even dozens of times. But only on condition that you competently spend the freed up time.
Set realistic boundaries
Do you set any time lines? Clear boundaries will help you free up a lot of time that you can spend on sleeping, eating, completing errands, and having fun after hours.
Limit personal calls, set aside special time for meetings with customers, subordinates and sellers so as not to interrupt constantly. Turn off notifications and do not check mail all day. If necessary, you can respond to emergency messages. Make sure that you have a clear idea of your goals and what to do next. This clarity will help to choose productive actions.
Make decisions that don't contradict your values
We have 168 hours at our disposal every week of every year. If you think about it, it's a whole bunch of time. If you build your schedule around things that are important to you, instead of living in the hope of the magical appearance of free time, your life will immediately change for the better.
I'm not talking about forbidding yourself to work in the evenings or on weekends. Let's be clean, you are an entrepreneur. I’m talking about the correct prioritization, the exclusion of useless activities and a flexible schedule.
Too many entrepreneurs choose to live in chaos because it seems to them that they are working hard on their way to the goal. You need to work not a lot, but with your head. Yes, you will have to make some sacrifices, but you will not sacrifice something constantly. That is the big difference.