Ask any entrepreneur about their work-life balance and I guarantee that almost all of them will laugh. Whether their answer is “That doesn’t exist for me” or “I like to call it more of a work-life integration”, entrepreneurs are starting to realize that the balance needs to be there, but can it really exist simultaneously?
There has never been a time when the focus on mental health has been more at the forefront than it is today, and entrepreneurs know that the threat of burnout is real. If they are burning the candle at both ends, they will feel the very real effects of their business on their mental health. So then why do so many ignore this and romanticize the idea of overworking themselves into the ground?
I’ll admit that there are times I have glamourized burning the midnight oil. I have romanticized the startup grind. I have sometimes made it seem that to be successful you need to work 20 hours a day with no breaks to really soar. But I’ve started to realize that I am doing no one any favours by promoting hustle culture over “Turning-off-all-my-devices-and-watching-Netflix-in-bed” days.
The truth is that it’s not actually a balancing act. If you’re an entrepreneur, you most likely have the innate need to hustle. The act of hard work comes naturally to you and sometimes working late is something that actually helps you unwind. Working hard will always be hardwired into the most successful entrepreneurs and showing up, no matter how tired you are, is still extremely important.
If Work-Life Balance is like a teeter-totter with work (Hustle) on one seat and life (Rest) on the other, why are we all trying to ensure the teeter-totter doesn’t move and is balanced perfectly? Please tell me one time you enjoyed a day at the playground by going on a see-saw and working together, feet on the ground, level with your friend to just be sure that you were balanced and not moving up and down.
That is no fun. And neither is the old idea of Work-Life Balance. The thought that it all has to balance out makes no sense because it never will and if entrepreneurs have this idea that it all has to be the same, at any given moment, well then that will only contribute to more stress down the line. At the end of the day, being an entrepreneur should still be fun and if it’s not then maybe it’s time to let go of the idea of balance and sit down on the “Rest” seat of your teeter-totter and let the work stress dangle at the top for a moment.
Entrepreneurship should be fun but as any entrepreneur will tell you, it’s less of a balancing act and more of a merry-go-round, where you hold on tight as you get spun around, being sure you’re not letting go at any weak moment. But, if you do find yourself on the Work-Life Balance teeter-totter, why try to balance at all?
Entrepreneurs need to start recognizing that the fun comes when you let go of the need to balance and instead move up and down, ebbing and flowing, hustling and resting. We need to be okay with taking a break on the “Rest” seat for a day or two after a busy previous week.
We need to be okay with blocking off our calendars on a random Wednesday afternoon and meeting up with our best friend for a glass of wine or a beer to vent about life. We need to be okay with pulling ourselves away from our laptops, powering down our devices, and spending quality time with our families after a hard day at work. We need to let the “Hustle” seat sway in the air for an afternoon or an evening before getting back to the grind.
And when we do get back to the grind and take a seat in “Hustle” mode then that’s okay too. It just doesn’t need to be all “one-or-the other” at all times or worse, stuck in the middle, half standing on each seat trying to balance work and life but not truly giving the right attention to either.
For most entrepreneurs, the idea of balance never sounded fun to begin with. The dream of freedom and extra hours for themselves is what lured them in, in the first place, and the thought of ‘Work Hard, Play Hard’ is a motto many entrepreneurs live by.
So, let’s bring it back to that. A balancing act is never any fun when it just stays balanced. We need to allow ourselves to have fun on that teeter-totter again, going up and down and mixing Hustle with Rest. We need to recognize that taking a break from the grind is sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself and your business to ignite new energy and to ensure that everything that you have worked so hard for, can still remain fun.
It’s all about the ups and downs, both Hustle and Rest should be prioritized and if you can create a good motion between the two then maybe you’ll no longer find yourself yearning for the crazy merry-go-round you keep finding yourself on instead.
by Shannon Ferguson