5 Minutes to Master Work-Life Boundaries

Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael. Welcome to another edition of Ask Evan. Today I'm going to answer a question from one of our readers, Richu, who wrote in asking about work-life balance. So the exact question is, "Hi Evan, you always send quite interesting notes to read that really inspire me." So thank you for that. I want to ask one thing. Would you please advise me on how an entrepreneur can balance or cope with personal and professional life? It seems very hectic to carry on with zeal and satisfaction. If you're happy at work, there's something tense waiting at the personal front. If you're happy with the personal aspects, there's tension at work. Please help. Warm regards, Ritu. Thanks for the question. Especially as an entrepreneur, it's hard. It's really hard to balance your personal and your business life because we're so emotionally attached to our business, right? A lot of times the business an extension of, of what we do. What I find really helpful is first to have a separate space. So you may not be able to afford an office, you know, if you're starting up. I like having an office that I can go to, so I have my home and then I have my office, and I know when I'm at home I'm doing home stuff, and when I'm at the office I can focus on my business. If you're working from home, try to create a separate space that is just for your office, and you know when you go there you're working and that's, you know, you're gonna be focused on that and try to get everything accomplished and not get too distracted by your personal things. I find when entrepreneurs have a huge mix, you know, you're working out of your kitchen and there's, you know, kids coming in and out, it's just really frustrating. So you wanna have a clear separation. The next thing I find that also helps instead of just physical separation is have a time separation. So I'll block off hours in my week for work. So I know I'm going to be in the office for, you know, these days and this time, and I know what I'm working on. And then just as important, I'll block off things for personal and family time, and I treat those as important as any really important business meeting. So I'll try not to book things on certain days. So like Saturdays, I won't work. I won't go to, you know, conferences or trade shows or anything else because I booked that off for family time. You know, if there's an exception, we'll talk about it and see if it's really worth it or not, but still usually won't go. And that's just a personal decision, but it helps make sure you have time to do your personal things as well as your business things. It is easy to get distracted. I find, at least for myself, if you're having family time or personal time, you come up with an idea for a business. You know, a lot of the best ideas you get for your company is when you're relaxed and you're playing. You know, how many great ideas you get in the shower because you're, you're relaxed, right? When you're tense and stressed out, you're probably not going to come up with a lot of good ideas. So if you're playing with your kids or if you're just relaxing or hanging out with friends, you'll probably get some great ideas for your business. And what I try to do then is just write it down, you know, take some notes, send an email to myself, and then move on and can be able to continue on with, with whatever I was doing for that day. I try not to get distracted. With the phone and answering email that come in. You know, I've set times when I'll do emails. So just having clear boundaries between your personal life and your business life, I find, really helps. I know it can still be hard, but try to remember that, you know, when you're spending your time with your family or friends, that's your time with your family and friends, and shut off everything else and don't bring your work home with you. And when you do get a great idea You know, don't ignore it. I don't want you to lose awesome ideas for your company, but send yourself a quick email or take a note so that you can come back to it when you are focused on your work. That being said, it's still hard. You're going to work crazy hours as an entrepreneur, especially to launch it, and you do want to make sure that you still have some time for your friends and family, because otherwise you're going to burn out. And it's very common where entrepreneurs will spend crazy hours at the beginning and burn out and quit their company, and you'll have much more success by working less hours but keeping at it. Doing something every day to grow your business. You'll be more successful and you'll also be a lot happier. So hopefully that answers your question. Thank you everybody for watching. If you liked the video, please give it a thumbs up below. It makes me want to do more of these for you. And I'd love to hear what you have to think. If you want to comment about this video or if you have a question about your own business, feel free to leave it in the comment section below. I always read those. I love seeing them come in. It makes my, makes my day when I see new comments coming in on the videos. And I'll get back to you as well. So thank you, and we'll see you on the next episode.