Hustle & Harmony: Setting Boundaries in Business to Achieve Balance

Our culture tells us that we should strive for work-life balance—that it’s necessary. But let’s be honest. As an entrepreneur, is work-life balance really possible? Probably not. Some seasons of life and business naturally require you to focus more on personal or professional concerns. Instead, by setting boundaries in your business, you can maintain a semblance of balance and prevent overwhelm.

As an entrepreneur, is work-life balance possible? My theory is that it’s not … But what if there are things you can do to maintain a semblance of balance and a semblance of lack of overwhelm without having to get legalistic about it? I think it’s possible.

– Pamela Grice, Business Coach

In this episode, we’ll give you some ways to to manage your ever-growing task list, take care of your personal obligations, and find harmony, if not balance, between your work and personal life.

As always, we’d love to hear from you. Do you think work-life balance is possible for business owners? Comment below and share your opinion.

How to Set Boundaries in Your Business To Promote Harmony

What We Talked About

• [00:16] Is work-life balance possible as an entrepreneur?
• [01:23] Prioritizing tasks to manage your massive to-do list
• [04:00] How time blocking can help you organize your workload
• [05:35] Delegating, both at work and at home
• [10:01] Setting clear boundaries around work hours
• [15:07] Overworking as a defense mechanism for loneliness
• [16:20] Managing expectations with your team, your family, and yourself
• [18:29] Setting boundaries around technology in your business
• [20:01] The importance of routines to maintain balance
• [22:51] Self-reflection: Is my life in balance?
• [24:35] Prioritize your day and gain balance with our Time Blocking Planner
• [25:14] What we read, watched, or bought this week

Prioritizing Your Never-Ending To-Do List

• “Really looking at those things [on your task list] that are impactful, that are going to have a high return on investment, or that set your business up for higher productivity or greater ease on the back end, I think are the like most important things for me” – Pam
• “Every day I take a sticky note out, I put all my meeting times in, and then I block the hours around with other client work that needs to be done … That’s basically how I get through the day. I know every hour what I’m accountable for, and then at the end of the day, whatever doesn’t get done, it moves to the next day’s sticky note.” – Teri
• “I think that’s really helpful to say, ‘I don’t have to think about anything else. I don’t have to stress about the things that have to get done, because right now is my social media time, and I’m that’s what I’m doing. I don’t have to think about anything else.’ I think it makes it easier, takes the pressure off.” – Pam

Delegating Tasks in Your Business and Home

• “I think to feel more in balance is to be able to delegate more and not take everything on yourself.” – Teri
• “Have you ever tried to balance on a teeter totter? You stick one friend on one side, and you’re on the other side. You lean forward and you lean back, and you each do a little bit of thing. The teeter totter wiggles just a little bit, but the whole goal is to not get it to hit bottom. I think that’s what work life balance looks like. It’s always it’s always in flux. It’s always moving. We’re always making adjustments, and the goal is just not to hit bottom.” – Pam
• “There is no shame in delegating to the humans in your household, because your work life is only part of your life. Life is the other part.” – Teri
• “It’s hard. It really is, because we we get this mindset of, ‘If I don’t do it, it’s not going to be done. If it’s not going to be done, I’m going to lose money. If I lose money, I can’t pay my bills.’ It’s all of that pressure of being a business owner. But that’s what encouraged me to delegate and encouraged me to set up processes and those things, to just preserve my own physical and mental well being.” – Pam

Setting Boundaries Around Working Hours & Technology

• “Parkinson’s Law basically says the things that you get need to get done are going to get done within the time frame that you have … So recognizing that when you have to get it done in eight hours, you will get it done in eight hours, and you’re going to figure out a way to do that and trust in yourself to do that.” – Pam
• “I am saying this because this is where I have been and I would assume there’s other women who have been there. But when I was working all those hours at night, it was basically using it as a way to self medicate for the loneliness, and the feeling of inadequacy, and the fear … So I think it’s worth some thinking time and some reflection time on why.” – Teri
• “You can’t look at someone who’s been doing this for 15 years and saying, ‘How come my business isn’t where theirs is?’ when I just started doing those things. What expectations are you putting on yourself that are actually burdening you, and weighing you down, and making business not fun?” – Pam
• “It goes with technology, goes with social media. We all only need so much of that and and sometimes you just have to be like, ‘Okay, I’m doing my Instagram for 10 minutes. That’s it, and I’m done.'” – Teri

The Importance of Having a Routine for Your Business

• “I think it’s important, even if we’re a little bit lax on a routine, it’s at least a little bit of routine. Are you eating? Did you go to bed the same time consistently? Are you getting sleep? I think it’s just going to help you feel more in balance, whatever that means, with your business and your life.” – Teri
• “So maybe scheduling in a routine checkup every quarter or every end of the month of, ‘How am I feeling about my business? How is my health doing? How is my stress level doing? How are my relationships doing? Does everyone feel cared for and seen and taken care of and and all of that?’ – Pam
• “With kids, I know when I’ve been totally out of balance, I can see it with their behaviors. They’re not getting what they need from me, and it’s very obvious. And so I think you can see it in different parts of your life. Even if it’s not directly told to you, you can feel.” – Teri

From the Episode

• For help with your morning routine, check out The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod.