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Work-Life Balance For The Self-Employed
In the late 80’s, an author by the name of Robert Fulghum wrote a best-selling book filled with short, personal essays. One of his anecdotes was about meeting strangers while traveling and how every interaction started with the same two questions:
1. What’s your name?
2. What do you do for a living?
Fulghum’s point was that our personal identity has become deeply intertwined with our work, and he regretted the implications.
For some people, “what they do” for a living is not the best representation of “who they are.” Their occupation could be a very small part of their wider interests, talents, and dreams.
About the same time Fulghum’s book was published, the term “work-life” balance became popularized—inspired, perhaps, by people hoping to establish clear lines between their work-life and their home-life. The investment banker during the week could be just as passionate about playing guitar in local pubs on weekends, and the cashier working the late shift at the local convenience store could also be studying art and design as a full-time student during the day.
Clearly, there’s more to us than our work. In fact, archaeologists have uncovered manuscripts from ancient civilizations that require citizens to rest and recuperate. Today’s challenge isn’t convincing people they need to achieve a work-life balance, it’s modeling how it can be done.
One thing is certain—establishing healthy boundaries between work and life is far more difficult for entrepreneurs or self-employed people than it is for the average citizen. Because, unlike Fulghum’s claim that his identity shouldn’t be muddled by his job title, small business owners and freelancers do tend to forge their identity within the context of their work, which makes finding balance much more challenging and, paradoxically, far more important.
The Industrial Revolution’s Formula for Work-Life Balance: 24 ÷ 3 = 8
As mentioned earlier, even ancient civilizations understood the value of taking a break from labor. However, our present-day model was inspired by a more recent cultural worldview.
Much like our education system, the concept of an 8-hour workday grew out of the demands of the Industrial Revolution. During this time, the equation for a balanced life was pretty straightforward—just divide your 24-hour day evenly into three parts: sleep, work, and recreation.
The phrase “work-life balance” wasn’t part of the 18th century’s dictionary, but the concept was, and it was easier to maintain because it was almost impossible to participate in any of these activities
in the same spaces.
You farmed in a field or kept books in a bank, you slept in your bedroom, and you attended tea parties or sporting events in town.
Eventually, though, technological advances would blur the lines between where (and when) people could effectively work, and the conveniences of digital innovation created a crisis of work-life balance.
Now, we can theoretically work anywhere, all the time.
Setting Boundaries (The Time-Space Conundrum)
One of the first steps to achieving a healthy work-life balance is understanding that boundaries are no longer about location.
Depending on the type of micro-business you own or the kinds of services you provide, you can work from a park bench, from a plane, or from a hospital bed just as easily as you can from your office.
So, when setting borders between work and personal life, what we’re really discussing is setting aside time in our schedules where work doesn’t creep in.
This can be difficult for small business owners whose private lives are integrated with their world of work; however, without setting firm, time-based boundaries for themselves, self-employed people rarely get the rest and recuperation needed to be at their best.
How “Labor of Love” Affects Our Workday
Much like during the Industrial Revolution, today’s full-time jobs are still defined as 8-hour shifts, and sleep experts still urge us to get 8-hours of rest. Unfortunately, given the state of modern technology, these expectations seem unlikely.
Several recent studies suggest that the average person can only be productive between 5 and 6 hours a day, yet according to this study, the majority of workers are at 8-hours or more per day.
What’s alarming, though, is the significant increase in hours—between 10-12 per day—that small business owners dedicate to their “labor of love” as shown in this study by Gallup.
Most experts agree there isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” answer to the question of how we should divide our workday. Different people have different capacities; what one person can complete in an hour might take another person 100 minutes to finish. That’s why one behavioral neurologist who studied this issue did not provide a mathematical formula but instead suggested that we need 20-30 minutes of rest (which he defined as being completely detached from our work) for every two hours of productivity.
Ultimately, people trying to develop their own business must perform an honest self-evaluation that takes into consideration their unique personality, lifestyle, family situation, and the type of work that they do when determining how much time they want to dedicate to recuperation.
What isn’t up for debate is how crucial it is to set aside uninterrupted time when we disengage from work, and what follows are some ideas that might help you do just that.
How Can I Spend Less Time Working and Still Get Everything Done?
We know rest and recovery are critical to our productivity, but what the self-employed person can’t reconcile is the mountain of tasks piling up as deadlines approach.
It’s important to acknowledge that we’re not talking about eliminating tasks (unless they’re avoidable, needless, or repetitive).
Instead, our focus is on how to become more efficient.
1. Resist the “hero complex.”
There’s a lot of pride and not a lot of trust on the part of many family business owners. Their livelihood depends on their performance, and for many of us starting a company is like having a baby—it needs our constant nurturing and oversight.
This mindset is understandable, but self-employed people must be wary of the mentality that says: “No one else can do this but me.”
That attitude fosters a dependency that negates healthy boundaries. Finding time in your schedule may require you to delegate or ask for help.
Even if it affects your bottom line, hiring someone to take on your less-important but time-consuming tasks is a great way to address work-life imbalance.
Sometimes this is easier if we reframe the question of value.
Ask yourself:
What would I pay…
- To be able to see my child’s recital or little league game?
- To take my significant other to a show?
- To have more hours every week to devote to a hobby?
Numerous online platforms such as Upwork, Fiverr, and Toptal exist because of these questions. Today, you can find reasonably priced (sometimes even cheap), proficient, and talented freelancers ready to take on just about any task from accounting to research and development, web design, marketing, and administrative tasks.
2. Use the Triage Approach.
The word “triage” has its origin in the Napoleonic Wars, when injured soldiers were grouped by the severity of their condition. Today, ER doctors and EMTs arriving at the scene of a serious accident use the same approach as a system of decision-making.
If you’ve ever gone into a bustling ER with a sprained ankle or a cut that needs stiches, you probably found yourself waiting while other people who arrived after you were pushed to the front of the line.
That’s because these patients were suffering from something more severe—heart palpitations, a brain injury, or a condition deemed a threat to survival
or livelihood.
We can take the same approach to our work through prioritization and utilization.
While most people understand what these tactics are, we’re usually not very good at performing them.
The following questions can help:
- Am I clear on my short and long-term goals/objectives?
- Do I have a proven system for organizing my work?
- Do I review my processes after the completion of a task to find ways to improve efficiency?
- Do I take steps to reduce distractions or interruptions when I’m working?
- Am I leveraging the time-saving tools or applications available to me?
If you answered “no” to any of these questions, you’re likely wasting valuable time, and you’re probably reactive instead of proactive, letting your work dictate your life’s schedule instead of vice versa.
The National Association for the Self-Employed knows how challenging it is to become a successful entrepreneur while also maintaining work-life balance.
The irony is many small business owners are inspired toward entrepreneurship by the presumed freedom and independence that comes with being self-employed. Unfortunately, entrepreneurs quickly discover different obligations and responsibilities, and they end up with less time than they had before.
Conclusion
As a self-employed person, you have intimate knowledge of the challenges inherent in achieving a dream without also losing that vital connection to family, hobbies, and shared communities outside of work.
If you find that your aspirations for success are suddenly at odds with the people and the activities which provide a sense of meaning and fulfillment, then it’s time to create boundaries and to find a healthy balance between the two.