Making your business work for you: investing in your passions
- OneTeam
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Your business is something you're deeply passionate about. But what other aspects of life hold significance for you?
If not managed carefully, running a business can take over your life. Therefore, it's essential to maintain a healthy work/life balance, lower your stress, and allocate time for other interests.
In this series, we’ll look at the core ways your business can be structured to deliver on your own personal, family, philanthropic and leisure goals, now and into retirement.
Managing your time to balance work and play
A [2024 study by RFI Global] (https://b2bnews.co.nz/news/sme-owners-wellbeing-impacted-by-business-pressures-study/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) revealed that 70% of New Zealand’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are reporting high levels of stress and burnout
Being the boss can be extremely stressful and can have a detrimental effect on your mental health, as a small business owner.
To combat this, it’s vital to spend some of your time away from the business, doing things that help you spark joy, relax and reduce those stress levels.
Let’s look at five tactics for boosting your work/life balance.
Schedule dedicated time off in your diary
Scheduled time away from the business is just as important as scheduled meetings. Block out specific times in your week for family time, hobbies or exercise.
Treat these blocks of ‘no work time’ with the same commitment as your usual business obligations. Turn off work-related notifications on your phone and mentally disengage from work during these periods, so you can focus on the activities that help you relax.
Prioritise leisure and family during the working week
Don’t wait for the weekend to do what you love and spend time with your family and friends. Weave in shorter bursts of enjoyable activities throughout the week.
This could be a family dinner, a mid-week sporting activity, or dedicating a few hours to your favourite hobby after work. Make leisure a regular part of your routine, rather than an occasional treat that you dangle like a carrot while working long hours and heading closer to burnout.
Dedicate time to your hobbies and creative pursuits
Make time for activities that you genuinely enjoy outside of work. This could be reading a novel, painting, playing a musical instrument, gardening, or even writing your memoirs.
It’s hard to stay focused 100% of the time on the business. Hobbies provide mental stimulation, reduce stress and help you ‘turn off’ and remove the boss’s hat. Coming back to your desk feeling happy, relaxed and rested helps you become a better boss and leader.
Give something back with charity work
You may have a cause, charity or social enterprise that you truly believe in. Schedule time for volunteering and doing your bit for the local community.
Giving back to the community can provide a great sense of purpose beyond your business success. And working with charities and social enterprises also offers a valuable perspective shift, allowing you to view the world without putting it through the lens of a business owner.
Focus on wellbeing and mindfulness
It’s vitally important to be able to step out of ‘work mode’ and to relax.
Create a deliberate routine to help you transition from work mode to personal time. This could involve a short walk, listening to music or spending more time with family when you first get home. These rituals signal a mental shift away from work and help you be more present in your non-work activities – helping you to de-stress, relax and gain a deeper perspective on life.
Achieving a rewarding work/life balance
A relaxed and happy business owner is an asset to your business, and makes you a better person for friends and family to be around. Being able to balance out your work time with your leisure time is an intrinsic part of finding happiness as an entrepreneur.
Comments