Work Life Balance: Weekend Thoughts
As this first week of writing for B5 comes to a close I am looking forward to the weekend and spending time with family and friends. It also got me thinking about how most of us entrepreneur’s spend our weekends working on our business. This may be because you are just starting and there are so many things to do right now or it may be because we are working with clients all week (a good thing) and the only time to get the admin/busy work done is on the weekends.
When I first started out I went full speed ahead and worked almost 16 hours days every day. That lasted only a few months when everything else around me started to suffer. Many entrepreneur suffer what I call the “patience conundrum”. It is the conundrum caused by the impatience that drives us to do something new and groundbreaking (i.e. starting our own business) and the impatience to wait for it all to pay off (i.e. why is this taking so long?).
Over time I have created a routine for my weekends that allows me to work on something if necessary but leave other things off limits.
For example, Saturday is limited to 2-3 hours of business related work. It can be done at anytime but I must also get the errands done and go to gym. No excuses. Sunday for me work has become off limits. I go for a run in the morning, go to church, see family, watch a movie, play the xbox, what ever I want. I watch TV in the evening go to bed around 12pm. The point is that Sunday is my day.
I feel energized on Monday when I have to attack the week and do it all over again.
Do you have a routine to share that works for you?
What I have discovered is that if we don’t create a day of separation, sanctuary or solitude, the edges will blur.
When the edges blur, life becomes a blur, we forget the reasons we did this in the first place and it probably stops being fun.
So enjoy your weekend where ever you are located, get a little work done if that will make you feel good, but take a break and enjoy the journey. You will get to the destination, just enjoy it along the way.
I work huge hours in the week so I always take the weekends off, its a time for seeing friends, watching football and generally relaxing…
Serious words of wisdom here. I am currently working 7 days a week (84 hours last week) and its running me down. I need to make a move to something that is a fair balance between being comfortable and challenging. If you have no “me time” its hard to enjoy anything.
Anyway, I don’t know if you know about the Blogger’s Choice Awards but they have a “Best Business Blog” category that you should check out. I think this site has some of the best advice for people who’d like to be successful at what they do… If you’re not already nominated, you are welcome to nominate yourself. If you’re already nominated, you can grab some embed code that puts a “vote for me” button up on your site so that your readers can make sure you win and get sent to the awards ceremony in November.
Worth a shot to get something back. Anyway, best of luck, and keep on blogging.
Great Post! I think “me” time is critical but very hard to come by, especially for those of us just starting at our new venture. I can honestly say I don’t have a routine. My partner and I work 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you think the remaining 6 hours a day are spent sleeping, you’re wrong. We can’t sleep because we’re thinking about the next day’s challenges. My routine basically goes like this: Work as hard as I can for as long as I can until I get burnt out. Then take a day/afternoon/evening off and relax with friends, watch a movie, play sports, etc. However, this could be a Tuesday afternoon or a Saturday or Sunday. For us, there’s not schedule. Clients come first and our passion for our venture, OnCard Marketing, is what fuels our tenacious work habits. Good thing we’re young and unmarried with little other financial or social commitments. Healthy… probably not. Fun, exhilarating… absolutely. We just take time away from the business whenever it gets to be too much but are always back to the grinder as soon as that all-to-familiar sense of guilt sets in…
You’re so right Steve. But I don’t do it. Well, not yet, anyway. These days, I try to give myself an hour or so in the afternoon and another couple every evening. It’s not ideal, but it’s a start.
My weekends is always in work. Maybe because I don’t have family yet?
Even if you don’t have a family you still have friends and hobbies. You must play or work will consume you and worse when it is the only thing in your life you will become very obsessive and very boring.