Being an entrepreneur takes a lot of effort.
It requires so much from you. Add to that the role of a parent
and/or spouse and your responsibilities increase exponentially.
It can be quite overwhelming.
Learning to create balance and manage everything effectively is a huge
challenge at times, if not most of the time.
You have some many priorities, people who depend on you, and a multitude
of duties to tend to.
For many, attaining balance in any small amount seems far in the
distance, if attainable at all.
Here’s the thing, there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to creating
balance in life.
Each person is different. Each situation is different.
What’s important to one person may not be a priority to another.
Now, I am not here to tell you the RIGHT way to create balance. What I
can do offer is a guideline that you can create a sense of balance that
fits YOU and your lifestyle.
has allowed me to be an entrepreneur for the past 14 years while raising,
and now homeschooling, my 3 children and still be able to enjoy personal
time to recharge and nurture my soul.
Creating the change you desire does not happen overnight.
It takes being intentional. It takes choosing the right actions to create
a lifestyle that is satisfying and rewarding – for YOU.
Remember, it is not about perfection. Rather, it is about progress.
So, where do you start?
Pick your one frustration – something that is not working in your life.
Most frustrations can easily be minimized, if not, eliminated by setting
up a simple system. Not just any system, but a system that works for YOU
and your lifestyle.
As I mentioned earlier, I currently homeschool my children while working
from home.
We are heading into another year and believe me, there were a few
frustrations that I want to eliminate from last year!
The important thing is to decide what the issue is specifically. It then
opens up the opportunity to look at effective options to improve the
situation.
For me, my frustration was multi-layered.
My office was on the opposite side of the house from where the kids did
their work.
At first, I thought it would be a great way to separate my work from the
kids’ school. Sounds like a good plan, right?
Well, instead, I it caused two separate, very frustrating, situations.
One, when the children needed anything, they had to come down the halls
to ask the question. Then, I had to get up and walk back down the halls
to help them.
Sometimes I would tell them that I would be with them in 10 or 15 minutes, which, on many occasions, would be their permission to play around for
those 15 minutes until I was available. This caused many LONG days of
school.
Can you see it…a lot of wasted time?
Other times, I would stop what I was doing and address their need.
However, that’s where my other frustration was.
When I work on my client work or any work for that matter, I am very
focused.
When they would come to ask a question or need anything, it would take
me a bit to focus my attention on what they were asking.
After walking down the halls to help and walk back to my office, I
would spend time getting my focus back to where I was when they walked
in. Only to be interrupted again by the next child.
Needless to say, this was not productive for me or my children. Add to
that, I had to make up the lost work time during evening or weekend hours.
That would interrupt my personal down time, which made for a frustrating
and exhausting week at times.
To begin to create the change, you have to ask questions.
I took a step back and ask myself, “How can I create an environment that supports my business schedule and goals while serving my children and
their education?”
My solution is two-fold…
First, I decided to move my office to be in a close proximity of where
the children do their work. I have an extra-large living room, which has
a decent size corner that was not being utilized much. I moved into that
space.
I am more easily accessible to my children. This will eliminate wasted
time, as well as, give me the ability keep a pulse on things and keep
them focused.
Second, I am implementing a schedule of focused work time and Q&A time.
They will be able to keep moving through their school work while I get
uninterrupted focus time for my client projects.
If they need help, they move on to something else and save it for Q&A
time.
It increases productivity for all of us.
We are able to end school at a decent time and enjoy our evenings and
weekends as a family.
Now, to be honest, I do not know if this is a full-proof plan.
However, I am confident it will create definite progress for the change
I am looking to create.
This arrangement is likely to be “crazy-making” for someone else to
implement.
Creating balance in your life will not look the same for you as it does
for me or anyone else.
The most important thing to remember when creating any system is you
have the freedom and flexibility to create a system that works for YOU and
your situation.
--Pick an area that frustrates you.
--Create a system that can reduce the frustration, if not eliminate it.
--Then, evaluate.
It may not solve it perfectly, but you will make progress.
You can always fine-tune your systems down the road.
I will let you know how my plan works out!
In the meantime, plan to have a fabulous day!
Warmly,
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