A recent report by YouGov found that one in seven people are unhappy with their work-life balance, and 43% of people regularly send emails out of work because they are too busy to get everything done during their working day. In fact, according to CV-Library, 37% of people are putting in 13 days extra work per year.
This data refers to the average UK employee, but those who are working for themselves are also at risk of having a poor work-life balance. Start-ups take a lot of work and long hours to get off the ground, so it’s understandable that entrepreneurs may be spending much more time working than relaxing or tending to their home life.
Separating Work and Home Life
It can be particularly difficult to keep your work from seeping into your personal life if you are working from home, because everything is happening under one roof. You can alleviate this by setting specific times when you will work. Treat your business like a full-time job and not only will you be able to stop working in time to relax for the evening, but you’ll also be more productive if you know there is a limit on how much time you spend working. It’s up to you what your schedule will be – you might want to get up early and finish mid-afternoon, or get things done around the house in the morning and work from after lunch and into the evening.
Having an office in your home can also help you to separate work from home life, rather than working in the lounge and getting distracted or moving constantly between the two and feeling like you’re not getting very much done.
How Can A Business Plan Help?
Your business plan can help you to achieve a better work-life balance, as you can use it to define the roles within your business and plan your activities effectively. A business plan can help you to remember what your ultimate goals are and how you are going to reach them. You can then prioritise your activities accordingly, so that if you still have things on your to-do list towards the end of your work day, they will hopefully be of lower priority and you can move them over to tomorrow’s agenda without feeling guilty for not completing them.
Your business plan can also help if you are working with other people, by enabling you to clearly define roles in your plan so that work is distributed evenly and to the right people, or even outsourced to someone outside of the business.
Striking the Right Balance
Even if you’re happy to pour all hours of the day into your business, this may not be practical depending on your situation. You may have other commitments such as children, a spouse, other family members and friends which all need tending to. A supportive partner may pick up the slack around the house but it’s good to strike a balance that will make everyone happy. A start-up business is a labour of love and it can be very rewarding to see your hard work paying off, but most people need a good work-life balance, and a business plan can help you to achieve that.
If you would like some help with writing a business plan, the expert team at cbm will be happy to assist you. Contact us online using the form on the right or call 01604 420 420.