I’ve always made it a priority to have a work-life balance. As I have settled into life as a self-employed full-time digital marketing consultant I have found that there is a unique balance in the workplace to be met as well. I will share a few points to help shed light on some of the pain points I’ve been experiencing in my work-work balance.
Finding My Schedule Might Be Similar To A CEOs
CEOs are notorious for having a wild work and life balance. While I would not consider myself a CEO like those that took part in the data points I will be sharing, I have come to find that I connected with their struggles. This helped me shed some light on what I need to do in order to manage my work effectively to be the best consultant that my clients demand.
In the resource below CEOs spent “43% of their time on activities that furthered their agendas, while 36% was spent in a reactive mode, handling issues as they unfold.”
I found that there is a wonderful balance that needs to be maintained between focused quiet time, executing client tasks and prioritizing my business administration tasks. I need time to handle all those issues as well as prepare to have time to address the important last-minute client requests and technical marketing issues as they unfold.
Taking care of last minute requests and “fire drill“ tasks can quickly morph my day into something comparable to CEOs that struggle to find time that they can work alone. The research found that “CEOs spend 28% of their work time alone, but 59% of that is fragmented into blocks of an hour or less.”
I find days that are not fragmented into various meetings can become my most productive days. When I can set aside a fair amount of time to tackle client needs and recurring tasks I find it is a very enjoyable and productive day. Finding true enjoyment in a truly “productive” day is what drove me to provide an enjoyable business consulting experience.
Take Time To Enjoy The Little Things Aside From Running Your Business
I found It is very important that I take the time to enjoy the little things and focus on my physical and mental health. I am very passionate about the outdoors and good old fashion physical exertion. A good amount of physical suffering on the weekends make my Mondays something I look forward to.
CEO’s find the time to balance this as well, they “spent an average of 45 minutes a day on regular exercise and slept an average of 6.9 hours each night. They typically spent about three hours a day with their families, and most spent an average of 2.1 hours on pastimes, such as watching television, reading, or hobbies.”
While there is always the struggle to find the best way to relax without mindless television or other hobbies that are not the best use of our time, it is good to find a balance in your time to give yourself the time to recalibrate. Ask yourself the right questions. Nohria stated it well “Reviewing your time forces you to ask yourself, ‘Am I using time in a way that is strategic and makes sense, or do I have habits I need to revisit?’”
Take the time to look over your habits and ask yourself the right questions. Do this often and find the work-work-life balance you really need.