Owning your own small business can be highly rewarding, allowing you the benefits of setting your own hours, pursuing your own vision, and being your own boss. Yet there is also a distinct dark side to small business ownership, one that can encompass high levels of professional stress, along with burnout-inducing workloads.

To mediate these negative effects, small business owners have long sought to balance their professional obligations with personal fulfillment, including hobbies, relationships, and physical and mental health. While there is no recipe or blueprint for achieving work-life harmony, there are some strategies that might prove helpful.

Guidelines for Achieving Work-Life Harmony

1) Maintain clear boundaries.

One important step is setting lines between your personal and professional lives, and not allowing anything to cross them.

That might mean that, on days devoted to creative work, you have to say no to family or friends who invite you to grab lunch, or to heading home midday to work on some around-the-house projects. But it might also mean not taking work calls or logging into your email on the days you’ve set aside for family, or simply for relaxation.

2) Prioritize your time.

There will be days or weeks where you don’t quite accomplish everything you hope to. That’s not unique to small business ownership; it’s just a part of life.

That’s what makes it so important to prioritize, creating hierarchies of what’s most important and most urgent. Start each week with a planning session, mapping out the top priorities and the lesser priorities. That way, you can make sure the essential tasks do get done, and that you don’t get too caught up in things that can wait until later.

3) Take breaks.

A simple reminder: Taking breaks is a crucial way to recharge your mental battery and to keep your body healthy and fit. This might be a 10- or 20-minute break for a morning walk, or it might be hitting the gym for an hour at midday.

Consider setting alerts on your phone or creating entries on your calendar, reminding you to step away from your work for a little refreshment.

4) Learn to say no.

Ultimately, most small business owners are “doers,” eager to take on more work and to say yes to every request that comes their way. While admirable in many respects, this trait is not helpful when you’re trying to achieve harmony in your life.

Entrepreneurs must become comfortable saying no, especially requests for activities or projects after-hours. Safeguard your precious evenings and weekends for family, hobbies, physical fitness, and rest.

Recently Mark Cuban announced that he was leaving ‘Shark Tank’ to spend more time with his kids before they went off to college. Successful entrepreneur, Mac Lackey committed to being home with his family for dinner early in his career. Doing this is easier said than done; however, Mac set the boundary and protected his family time and had no regrets.

5) Schedule “me time.”

Along the same lines, remember that taking time just for yourself isn’t inherently selfish. In fact, it’s a necessary part of being a healthy human. You need to hit the gym, to nap, to go for long walks, to read, to meditate, to fish, to swim, whatever else.

Most small business owners are all too ready to forsake these important self-care tasks, which is why we recommend actually adding them to your calendar, treating them just like your other responsibilities. Make an appointment with yourself… and keep it.

Seek Harmony

Work-life harmony is something every small business owner needs to cultivate, both to ensure your ongoing personal health and to safeguard the health of the business. We’d love to talk about this with you further. Reach out to WhiteWater Consulting at your convenience!