Balancing work and family

When you’re running a business it’s easy to get bogged down with the trivialities and busyness that seem to take over. But balancing work and family actually makes life more enjoyable... and business hours run more smoothly.

You know the story, each day starts with a million things running through your mind about what you have to achieve in the time you have available. Everything needs to run like clockwork so that you ‘achieve’ your designated goals for that day.

That’s the theory anyway. But is this how the soloist’s life really should be?

Sometimes we forget why we are in this game in the first place. Surely most of us have chosen the solo life so that we can get balancing work and family right to give us time to enjoy everything in life, especially the important things.

Last December I found myself with a choice. Having risen with the larks (necessary for the military precision days of a busy family of five) done the early morning swimming lesson and arrived at school with lots of time to spare, I had the opportunity to rush back home and begin the daily work routine.

Being a soggy, grey old day the children were all safely ensconced in their classrooms, removing any feeling of guilt I might otherwise have. Obviously wise to my plans, my middle son asked if I could stay for a while in his classroom. A few minutes can’t hurt, I thought.

We decided to sit down and draw pictures of Christmas trees. Before long, more of his classmates had arrived and joined us at the table to draw Christmas trees exactly like mine. "I can’t do presents like that. Can you help me?”

All too quickly the 25 minutes disappeared, with my son proudly announcing several times to his classmates, who all knew who I was, “This is my Mum!"

As I left the classroom, with a great big smile on my face and a lovely warm feeling inside, I realised that I could have missed out on something wonderful, and all it cost me was 25 minutes.

For the rest of the day I felt good and was really productive because I had given the day such a good start. And, as a reminder of how important it is to keep the work and family balance, my Christmas trees are prominently displayed in my office so that each day I can smile at the memory.

Whether it’s time with the family, coffee with friends or a visit to the gym (something else I have rediscovered the pleasure of recently), the important things in life shouldn’t be forgotten in favour of what we perceive are the things that are important. Of course we need to devote time to our business to grow it and keep it flourishing, but this shouldn’t be at the expense of other aspects of life.

Although doing the important things in life like spending time with family and looking after our well-being takes up time, in the long run we gain so much more by being more relaxed and productive during the time that we are working.

What important things will you do today to make your business hours run more smoothly?

Karen Morris specialises in business to business communications using clear, straightforward language to deliver the right message directly to an audience.

3 comments | Add your own

Hi Karen, I believe that it is essential to create a list of priorities and schedule them each day - if you miss one, catch up with it next time - otherwise we get too busy to live and one day we're too old to do what we always wanted to do! Grant Hyman from Sydney | Read my articles
Thanks Karen. In answer to your question 'What important things will you do today to make your business hours run more smoothly?' I took time out to plant a seed and water it - that is I took the time to nuture a potential business relationship that I believe may be beneficial not just for my own business and theirs but for our current and future clients and the community. One of the best ways I believe to prioritise is not simply to add more and more to our list each day but to take time to remove one 'toleration' from our list each day also. What do I mean by this? Basically by giving ourselves permission to let go and stop allowing something that is zapping our time and energy from doing so. So the question I now put to everyone is what one thing can you let go of today to let your business hours run more smoothly. All the best. Heidi Alexandra Pollard from Warners Bay NSW
Karen,
I agree with you 100%. This is why I do this ~ too spend time with my kids. In order to make my business hours run more smoothly I have learnt the art of doubling or tripling the purpose of everything I do. In one hand I always have an ipod with the latest podcast ready to listen to, I have my palm pda so I can answer business emails, and take business phone calls, and I am at the park, not only with my own kids, but play dates for both the kids. You only have 1440 minutes in the day, tripling what you do in that time makes them far more effective. Heather Smith from Brisbane

3 comments | Add your own

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