I know that as business owners, the lines between work and life can get blurred easily. I’ve experienced it several times as an entrepreneur.
It’s a slippery slope to check just that one email or respond to just one DM. Your work life can take over your personal life if you aren’t careful.
I want to share a few work life balance tips that have greatly helped me since I started my business in 2020. I hope they help you too!
What is Work Life Balance and Why is it Important?
Work life balance comes down to not letting work rule your life so you can still enjoy the important things that make you start this business in the first place.
If you’re constantly working or stressing about work or thinking about work, are you truly present in your personal life?
No.
Work life balance helps you disconnect from work to enjoy your family, friends, kids, hobbies, and chill time.
I know there are busy seasons in every entrepreneurial journey, but you shouldn’t sacrifice your mental health to do more work to “get ahead” or reach your goals. It will only lead to burnout.
5 Work Life Balance Tips for Entrepreneurs
So to prevent feeling like you want to set your business on fire and hide in a cabin all alone in the woods with no responsibilities, use these work life balance tips.
1. Set Start and Stop Times to Work
When you set start and stop times to work, you’re telling yourself that you need to complete your work in a certain amount of time. It actually helps your brain stay focused because it knows you only work until 5 pm, for example.
It’s actually amazing what I can get done when my computer battery is at 15% and I have somewhere to be in 30 minutes.
You can also follow these tips to stay productive during those working hours. You’ll get more work done and give yourself time to spend with your family, friends, or any hobbies you have.
Remember, you have to actually stick to the hours you set!
2. Eliminate Unnecessary Activities
Do you 100% need to scroll Instagram for an hour?
No.
There is so much time in the day that we waste on things that aren’t helping to grow our business.
I know that sometimes your brain needs a break to mindlessly scroll Instagram. But maybe choose a brain-break activity that doesn’t accidentally suck you in for 20 minutes and actually gives you a mental reset before starting work again.
- Take a walk
- Sit outside
- Read a chapter in a book (but don’t get sucked in!)
- Call a friend
- Play with a pet
- Grab a snack and eat it at the table
- Start some laundry
3. Take Vacation!
Did you know your brain works more effectively when you take days off? Your brain needs a break from work. Plus, it feels like you’re working toward something, and you have something to look forward to. You aren’t just endlessly working your life away.
I know a lot of entrepreneurs who work through the weekend, and that’s an easy way to get burned out. Burning yourself out won’t help grow your business.
Even taking two days off on the weekend helps your brain come back on Monday more refreshed and ready to start the week.
If you absolutely need to work on weekends, I recommend setting shorter start and end times for your workday OR dedicating one entire day to no work. That way, you still feel like you have some downtime.
4. Turn Off Notifications After Hours
I think I get 1,000 notifications a day. And I’m the type of person who HAS to check it right when it comes in, or the little notification icon will just be taunting me.
I turned off notifications for basically everything I use. I just check in when I have a minute.
It’s especially important for work life balance to turn off notifications for work-related apps after you’re done working for the day. No need to read an email that comes in while you’re eating dinner!
This might be:
- Social media
- Slack
- Voxer
- Asana
- Trello
- Airtable
- Tailwind
You can also set these boundaries with your clients. Let them know of your working hours and response time. That way, they know when they can expect you to be available and won’t be emailing you at 10 pm (or at least not expecting a response).
5. Outsource
This may be the hardest one to do (it was for me, anyway.)
Your business is your baby and something you’ve worked so hard on. You can’t imagine anyone else taking care of an aspect of it for you.
If your situation is dire where you’re working too many hours to enjoy anything outside of work, it may be time to hire someone to take some things off your plate.
Here are a few ideas of things you can outsource:
- Social media management
- Email marketing
- Blogging
- Website maintenance
- Bookkeeping*
- Pinterest management*
- Email organization
- Lead generation
- Video editing
- Podcast management
- Branding
- Graphics creation*
- General admin work*
*I put a star by the things I outsource in my business 👀
How many hours a week do you spend on any of the tasks above? I bet there’s at least one thing on that list that you would love to stop doing yourself. Am I right? It may just be the best thing to happen to your business (and you!) to hire someone to help you. It’s okay to ask for help!
How Can You Be Better at Work Life Balance This Year?
You need to have a work-life balance to create a successful business. By setting start and stop times, eliminating unnecessary tasks, taking a vacation, turning off notifications after hours, and outsourcing, you’ll be able to enjoy things outside of work again.
Working on your business will be more fun, you’ll have more time with family or friends, and you’ll see the most success you ever have. Give these work life balance tips a try, and see your business growth explode.
FAQs About Work Life Balance
An unhealthy work life balance is when you feel like all you do is work. If you work a ton of hours, are always thinking about work, and work stresses you out, you probably have an unhealthy relationship with work.
It can be! These are the hours most people work. Just be mindful of how often you check in on work or think about work after hours.
The biggest work life balance red flag is when everything feels urgent. Every task is treated like a fire drill. You’re valuing availability over sustainable productivity. You can’t plan your day, unplug after hours, or take time off without guilt because everything is always needed yesterday.
Redefine what an urgent task truly is. Not everything needs to be done right now. Clarify priorities and push back (politely but firmly) when deadlines are unrealistic.
Pick a time to log off and actually honor it. Close your laptop, silence notifications, and resist the “just one more email” trap.
Put workouts, dinner, or rest on your calendar. Treat them as non-negotiable appointments.
If you work from home, have a designated space for work. If not possible, create a ritual that separates “work mode” from “home mode,” even something as small as changing clothes or taking a short walk.
Constant exhaustion, irritability, trouble focusing, physical symptoms, and lack of motivation can all be signs that work is causing a lot of stress in your life.
AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER
Some links in this blog post may be affiliate links. I only recommend products and services I trust and believe would be beneficial to you.
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