Can You Really Achieve Work/Life Balance?

Work-life balance. Resolutions…goals…intentions. Focus.

You’ve heard it all. You’d love to run your business without it running you (or worse, running you ragged) but no matter what you try, you’re still overwhelmed and frustrated. Sound familiar?

We live in a fast-paced world where at any given moment, we’re being bombarded with countless distractions. It’s hard to stay focused when you’re not even sure what you should be focusing on, especially when everything feels important and urgent.

So, let me ask you: Where’s your focus right now? If the answer to that just makes your head spin, you might be suffering from what I like to call The Busy Syndrome…

Do You Have Symptoms of The Busy Syndrome?

1. You never have enough time to tackle your to-do list.
2. You feel like you’re constantly on the go.
3. You often miss out on important family events even though you want to attend.
4. You know you would have more clients (and make more money)…if it weren’t for everything else vying for your time and attention.
5. You’re living life just to survive, while missing out on the best part – actually LIVING it!

The Myth of True Balance

If you’re like most of the entrepreneurs and business owners I work with, I’m sure you relate to most, if not all, of the symptoms of The Busy Syndrome. As a business coach, I’m asked all the time how to establish that work/life balance.

My answer is always the same: True balance is a complete myth.

Yes, you read that right. It’s pretty much impossible to attain a “perfect” balance.

You can’t separate your day out into equal parts for work, family, and self-care…and still expect to have time to achieve your goals while making sure everyone feels taken care of.

Why Harmony is What You Really Need

What you’re really looking for is harmony: time to achieve all your most important goals, while still making time for the people that matter most in your life.

Step #1 is to define what harmony looks like for you. Harmony doesn’t look the same for every person, so it’s important to outline what an ideal day looks like for you.

Step #2 is to honor your boundaries…a huge challenge for entrepreneurs. When you’re at work, be at work. When you’re away from work, be away from work. Stay present in the moment you’re in – and enjoy it! If you get a great idea during non-work hours, write it down! Then you have it saved for later to revisit during work hours.

Step #3 is to quit saying “I’m too busy”. When you tell your daughter you’re too busy to attend her soccer game, what you’re really saying is that it’s not important to you at that moment. When you replace “I’m too busy” with “It’s not important to me right now”, I guarantee you’ll find it much harder to say no to the people and experiences that contribute to a harmonious life – because you know how important they are.

And don’t forget – take time for yourself! You don’t need 3 hours to do this – a few minutes at a time is all you need to nurture yourself.

Stay tuned, because I’ll be talking all about my 3 favorite tools to help you take control of your time more effectively in my next post!

Tell me what you think your biggest obstacle is to establishing harmony – and what you do to overcome it.