Note: This column is the fourth in a five-part series focusing on topics that Nina and Paul Winans will cover at the Remodelers Advantage 2019 Couples Retreat Workshop February 7-8, 2019.
Finding balance between work and home life is difficult for many of us. It is especially important to do this when a couple works together in their own business. Finding balance when being committed to your spouse, your family, and your business often feels impossible.
How to make it more possible? Here are some suggestions.
Limits
A couple working together is often comprised of a crazy entrepreneur spouse and a supporting spouse. The crazy entrepreneur needs a limit on the maximum number of hours worked a week and the supporting spouse often benefits from setting a minimum number of hours worked a week.
These limits help the family and the business get the attention they need. Constructing limits on the number of hours is hard. After all, there is so much to do, right?
Try this: Make believe your doctor is talking to you after you’ve had a heart attack. She tells you that your body can only handle working eight hours a day, five days a week, with a clear disconnect from work outside those hours.
What would you do? Work more hours and die? Or follow her instructions on the 40-hour work week? Your choice.
Why wait for this circumstance to occur to set a limit on the number of hours you will give the business?
Practice Saying “No”
I’m not sure if the following has happened to you before: You and your spouse have busted your buns making the impossible happen, yet again. You are both so tired and all you want to do is zone out.
A friend calls and asks “Can you help me move out of my apartment tomorrow?”
You have a truck, you have helped other friends, and every time you did it you regretted having said you would!
Try saying “No.” “No, I am sorry. We’re completely beat. Who else can you call?”
We had to learn how to do that. What kind of life is it if you can’t define your own limits? A work-life balance is hard to achieve. It is a journey, not a destination.
The fact is that taking care of yourselves makes you better business owners and better family member. You, your spouse, your family, your employees, and your clients deserve that.