Have you found yourself chasing a goal, hitting it…and then continuing to chase? Or finishing up work for the day…and feeling guilty for not working more?
You, my friend, are struggling with “enough-ness”—something almost every business owner struggles with at one time. Because when you’re a high-achiever and in pursuit of a goal, it’s oh so easy to just keep pushing yourself. But where does that end? When is enough, enough?
When you run a business, it’s very hard to turn your brain off when it’s everywhere. You don’t necessarily go to an office and then come home. And without that clear separation, it feels like there’s always something that we should be thinking about or working on.
The tricky thing is, unless you hit a brick wall or burn out, there’s not going to be an end to those ideas. There’s always going to be something more that you could or should do to reach your goals, advance the business, and keep making bigger strides.
So to save you from reaching burnout central, let’s dig into the boundaries that will help you ensure you’re not just perpetually chasing goals, but also *enjoying* your life.
The Danger of Goalposts
It’s so easy to move the goalpost and to say, “Okay, I hit this, so let’s push it out further.” But constantly moving your goalposts feels like a never-ending impossible.
It’s something almost every business owner struggles with: the concept of always moving forward. If you’re not making strides forward, then you’re falling behind (even though we’re all working on our own timeline!). Sometimes, it’s hard to avoid the comparison trap of thinking, “Am I keeping up? Should I be doing better? Could I be moving faster?”
It’s natural to compare yourselves to others and want to emulate their successes. You think if you’re not doing something they are, then you’re not serving your business to the best of your ability—but that’s not necessarily true.
We’re absolutely not saying that setting goals is a waste of time or that you should never have ambition. Of course, we want everyone to achieve their biggest goals for themselves and their business! But to always want more and never be satisfied with where you are and what you’ve done in a day? That’s certainly *not* what we want for you (and not why we got into business!).
It’s imperative to accept where you—and your business—are at the current moment and acknowledge what you are able to accomplish in a given day or a given week.
Tactics to Limit Work Hours
Our team sets quarterly goals and focuses on the most important things that are going to impact our business. We have learned to focus on no more than three prioritized goals that make the most significant biggest impact first. That means some goals have to go in the metaphorical “parking lot” to look back on later (and probably realize they weren’t particularly important!). It’s always beneficial to be a little more strategic with the projects that you’re choosing to work on.
To avoid burnout, we take vacation time and half days. We’ve implemented some automation in parts of the business to ensure our operations run smoothly and allow us to step back as needed.
If you think you need to contribute daily, you’re going to burn out and be no use to anybody. Try to take a look at what has a direct line impact to revenue and focus on those tasks. For instance, we tag all our tasks in our project management system to identify key projects that will affect revenue.
We also set time limits for the amount of time we schedule in each other’s days. That means if a fire comes up, you still have the bandwidth to put it out.
The chronic challenge of being a high achiever—which 99% of entrepreneurs are—is being satisfied with “good” and not necessarily “great” every single day or every single week.
The Body’s “Circadian Rhythm”
I think most of us will be familiar with the dreaded “afternoon slump” that we end up trying to (unsuccessfully) fight most days. Working eight consecutive hours in the day is in complete contradiction with the way our body functions, and so there is always going to be a natural dip in your energy at certain points in the day.
The “circadian rhythm” is a very specific daily biological cycle that dictates when we are more productive during the day. We usually have two productivity peaks: mid- to late morning and late afternoon.
Our bodies naturally think better in the morning. So it’s best to do tasks that require little concentration in the early afternoon. When we hit our second spike later in the afternoon, our brain gets a little more energy for thoughtful activities.
Taking that into account, it’s crucial to also know when you work best. Top tip: Track what you do over the course of two weeks. When did you feel most productive? When was your energy at its lowest? Are there times of the day when you felt you could be most creative or other times that you had little energy and could only knock out some simple tasks? Analyzing this will help you create a healthy working schedule for yourself.
The Perfect Amount of Time to Work in a Day
The maximum time people can concentrate hard on something is five hours each day. Research shows that five work hours a day can improve productivity and bolster well-being.
As a business owner, you need time to think creatively and strategically. Identify your sweet spot when you can think creatively and strategically and block that time out on your calendar.
For other tasks, where you’re just executing things on your to-do list, try grouping similar tasks together. For example, you might conduct most of your meetings on a certain day. It comes down to knowing yourself, knowing where you tend to trip up, and putting in and enforcing those boundaries.
Create Achievable Tasks
You don’t need us to remind you that yes, deadlines are important. But set them so they’re actually achievable and doable. We don’t have to beat ourselves up that we didn’t finish something super fast! The more we prove to ourselves that business will go on regardless, the easier it becomes to accept, “Okay, this is enough for the day. I can stop and leave, and it’s going to be here tomorrow.”
Your to-do list should never be a reason to be disappointed with yourself! If you were looking at your to-do list and you feel overwhelmed or you feel disappointment with yourself, then the problem is with your to-do list, it’s not a problem with you.
Of course, there are going to be times when you can’t get through everything in the day because problems come up, or something turns out to be more complicated than you thought it was. But give yourself the opportunity to finish what’s there, accept that you have completed what you’re supposed to do for the day, and know that is enough.
Be Kind to Yourself
We’re never going to completely finish all our tasks, which means setting that as the goal is completely unrealistic. But if you have worked on something worthwhile in your business, if you have thought carefully about what you are doing in the day, and not just been spinning your wheels—be proud of what you’ve accomplished. Let that be enough. And it might be that your definition of “enough” changes from day to day.
There are also going to be some days when just taking care of yourself or spending time with your loved ones or doing something that you find enjoyable is “enough.”
For a lot of us, the default is to just keep pushing. But we have to take the time to pause, actually look at how we spend our time, and celebrate the wins that we’ve had. And never forget to be kind and gentle to ourselves!
Remember: You didn’t start this business to work yourself into an early grave. You started it to make a positive impact on the world and to make your life a little bit more fun, flexible, and fulfilling. And if you’re not heading in that direction, or if you’re not feeling that regularly, then that should be a red flag that you need to take a moment to reassess.
Look at how you are working, how you are interacting with your business, how you’re interacting with your team and your customers, and start to redefine for yourself what “enough” is actually going to be.
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As high achievers, small business owners are also highly productive people. Sometimes we just need to let go of that productivity guilt. Here are some tips on how to do just that >>
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As a business owner, it’s hard to know when enough is enough. When do you know you have hit the end of your to-do list when there isn’t an end? The truth is that you will never really hit the end of that list. And when you achieve your goals, the goalposts tend to move. That’s okay! But you need to know when to stop, when to close the laptop, and when to say you’ve done enough.
Listen in as Nicki and Kate help break that down for you, discuss their own personal challenges, and offer tips on what works for them.
Your Turn!
How do you maintain a healthy work schedule? What is the ideal amount of hours you feel you should work in a day? Let us know how you find a work-life balance in the comments below!