Good Morning!
Your family and friends are important. Most would list them as the most important thing and the top priority in their lives. I love and am very close with my family, and while I don’t have a large network of friends, the ones I do have are like family and nearly as important to me. This isn’t anything groundbreaking of course, but I want to establish that before I make my point here, and that point is…
…family and friends are more likely to hinder your business than any competitor ever will.
Its very easy to let the people we love, and that love us back slow or stop our progress, and in extreme cases cause us to fail. I see this a lot. People don’t make the progress they need because they are busy helping their brother move a sofa, or listening to their friend’s latest relationship trouble, or spending 4-5 hours a day with their children etc… That may sound harsh, but it isn’t meant to be. Your loved ones aren’t sabotaging you on purpose (I hope) they often just don’t understand the balance you need in order to be successful.
Its not their fault…
…its yours.
Of all the people I have done consulting for, this one thing has come up more than any other. I talk to people, find out what their goals are, then dig deeper and find that the main thing holding them back is that they just aren’t productive and aren’t getting shit done. Most times when we drill down it is because they are out of balance with their business, work, and personal time. Look I know its not easy; I also realize I am not married and don’t have children so it easier for me than some (though I do have experience with both) but it IS possible, it just take some planning, and some conversations.
I can’t give an exact template because everyone’s situation is unique but some guidelines I can give for budgeting your time based on the people I have worked with include:
- Make sure the people in your life know they are important to you and that they are a priority…
- …and that the business you are working on is also a priority so you can be the best version of yourself because that is what they deserve from you
- If you work from home establish a clear “work time” when you are not there except for emergencies. This means no diaper changing, taking out the trash, “mommy/daddy look what I drew” or anything like that. During this time you are “at the office” and are not to be disturbed.
- Establish a clear time that you will spend with your significant other, if you have one. This needs to be quality time, not time to talk about the bills or the household chores etc… it might be a full evening out on the weekend, or an hour in the evening after work or both.
- Establish a clear time to spend an hour a day with your children. Quality time is very important, and children remember it their entire lives… but to them a good hour is just as memorable as a distracted 5 hours. So put the full focus on them for an hour.
- Find time for family and friends. This will vary based on your unique circumstance and how introverted/extroverted you are.
- Find time to do errands and chores. Again this will vary based on your personal circumstance, and depending on your situation you can hire for a lot of this. You should also incorporate your physical health into this.
- Find an hour for yourself to do whatever you enjoy… reading, video games etc…
Schedule it out, and treat the schedule like it is set in stone… and if the people in your life don’t like it, listen to their concerns, explain why this makes sense for everyone, and see if they understand. If they don’t there may be other conversations that need to take place. Like I said there is nothing more important than the people we care about, hopefully you have people that feel the same way about you and will understand why you want to do this because you owe it to them to be the best version of yourself. Don’t let anyone get in the way of that, no matter how well intended. Its all important and you just have to treat it as such and find a balance. I know having a family and running a business its a tough juggling act; but lots of people pull it off and make it work, and I know we all can too.
Talk Soon,
CMW