Parenting and business ownership are similar in some fundamental ways. Both require you to take a leap of faith, to give your all, and you have to stay connected and invested in guaranteeing a good outcome. This is why many entrepreneurs refer to their business as their baby.
But you have a real baby, and a partner, and a home, and you do not want to sacrifice family time on the altar of business success. You do not have to; it is well within your means to do both well.
Any parent knows that parenting is work, so begin thinking of your business as your second job. Apply the same organizational and active listening skills you bring to the workplace to your home. Take the compassion and patience of parenting to the workplace. Just don’t bring work home or take your home worries to the workplace. It’s all about balance.
Give Your Total Focus to the Task
When you are at work, you must ensure that your kids have proper and reliable childcare so you can concentrate on your business responsibilities. When you are at home, give your children the same attention you would give to your best-paying client.
Bring the same intention you use when choosing suppliers for grocery shopping or choosing the best iron supplements for kids. Doing this will get more comfortable with practice and ensure that you give your best in both places. Being distracted is not suitable for a parent or a business owner. Practicing the art of focusing on the task at hand will allow you to carry out your duties to the best of your abilities. Your work will thrive, and your family will feel important.
Realign to Family Mode
It is not always easy to switch off from work mode, so you must find a tactic that helps you do this. Many people use meditation apps or a quick yoga class after work to help them let go of work tension to be present in their home life.
Being present and open to the experience of parenting is very important. Kids are sensitive creatures who instinctively assume they are at fault if their parent seems to be distracted, irritable, or tired. Avoid burdening your child with this guilt by taking whatever actions you need to focus on being a happy parent.
Avoid Getting Distracted by Work During Family Time
Work will encroach on your family time; there is no way around it. Being an entrepreneur means that you are always on the clock. Develop a system for identifying what can wait till the next day and what needs to be handled at the moment.
When the calls come, explain to your children that you must take this call, but you will be back. Then attend to your call and settle what you can, but do not do more than needs to be done. If it is not an emergency, then it can wait.
Take a deep breath and realign once again so you can return to your kids without seeming distracted. This will teach them a precious lesson in balancing work and home life. It will also show them that you enjoy your time with them and respect them enough to make time for them.
Manage Stress and Flexibility
Being an entrepreneur means that your work hours are not always reliable. Not having steady work hours may make it difficult for you to practice being intentional with your focus. This requires you to develop excellent stress management tactics. You must be as flexible as you can be.
With proper stress management, you can react appropriately to sudden situations that occur, whether they are work-related or child-related ones. Proper stress management is also about focusing on yourself. Take one hour a day, or 20-minute increments every few hours to focus solely on yourself. You deserve relaxation and prioritizing. Happy children have happy and fulfilled parents. So you must give yourself time to be a good parent.
It will benefit you as a business owner, too, because a stressed mind does not make the right decisions. Taking a few minutes each day to focus on your relaxation will allow you to bring a fresh sense to your work tasks and decision-making.
These may not be hard and fast rules that you can apply like a balm to fix your hectic work-and-home balance immediately. Being an entrepreneur requires the same passion and determination to succeed that a person needs to be a good parent.
Acknowledging this and accepting that sometimes what you need to work on are intangible things like stress release can become very liberating. This is because people choose to focus on the practical and the physical. But what matters most is the emotions underlying your actions. You can physically be at home or your desk, but it will show if you are not emotionally anchored to the situation.
Be happy, be passionate, and most importantly, trust your abilities. That is what will help you to be the best parent and business owner you can be.