How Entrepreneurs Can Really Achieve Work-Life Balance

Getting started on your entrepreneurial journey was supposed to give you freedom, but now it feels like work has taken over your life. Overwork is common among entrepreneurs, and it has consequences.

If longer hours, more stress, and missed opportunities outside of your business are coming to a head, you need to take corrective action. Here's how you, as an entrepreneur, can achieve the elusive goal of work-life balance.

First fill your cup of non-work

Almost every person, regardless of status or accomplishments in life, cites the same thing as what they treasure the most. If you can't already guess, they are loved ones. Humans tend to value their relationships with family and friends above all else.

However, many professionals, especially entrepreneurs, reserve most of their family time for the end of their lives. This practice can lead to decades of failed experiences that financial and business success cannot make up for. That's why it's essential to fill your time with things that fuel your heart, not your wallet.

While it shouldn't take a health condition to bring you back to reality, that's often what it takes to reset the path of a workaholic. Serial entrepreneur Mike Koenigs can attest to this firsthand. Koenigs had enjoyed great success in business, but with great sacrifice. It was a cancer diagnosis that inspired him to make a change that later brought success and balance. Today, he is focused on helping others achieve their soul purpose and putting their family first.

Prioritizing the needs of your family and yourself isn't selfish: it's essential for long-term success. If you don't have a solid foundation, you won't be able to reach your highest potential. So set limits on your work hours, step away for mid-day school recitals, and recharge yourself with personal activities that are simply for fun. By giving your real life its due, you can bring new energy to your working days.

Take the best parts of corporate life and make them your own

You probably don't want to go back to corporate life anytime soon, but there are benefits to it that you shouldn't quickly ignore. The most obvious benefit that many entrepreneurs overlook is paid time off. Stepping away from your life's work may seem impossible, but it's an important factor in establishing a work-life balance.

Most employees get an annual amount of paid time off, and more experienced employees often earn several weeks of it. Consider your current approach to PTO and be honest about your habits. If it's been ages since you've taken a vacation, you can probably smell it. And if you usually bring your work with you when you go away, it's time to create boundaries.

Review your current commitments, calendar, and revenue cycles to determine your busiest and slowest seasons. Next, figure out how many days a year your current commitments allow for true disconnection. Initially, it may come down to a small number of days, but this benchmark number is a start.

Use this calculation to assign a fixed number of PTO days that you will use each year. Block scheduled vacation time on your calendar, protecting that time for that much-needed disconnect. Share these dates with your employees so everyone can plan around your availability. Be clear that this weather is firm, and that you will not be there...