Being a great entrepreneur is hard work, but so is being a great dad. And if you are trying to be by both, you may find that something will give up the ghost sooner or later. However, learning to be excellent in both roles just involves remembering a few simple components.
You Are Not Alone
You don’t have to go far to find people like Richard Spanton who are constantly posting about their trials and tribulations of being an entrepreneur and parent. Sometimes, a problem shared is a problem halved. When you are struggling to make ends meet, or just find the pressures of being a parent are too much, so your work suffers, or vice versa, you have to remember that you are not the first, and you won’t be the last.
Define Your Priorities
You have to know what your priorities are. When you define what your priorities actually are, this will make everything easier. You’ve got to ask yourself what is more important, family or business? When you define what your priorities are, you can then communicate these priorities to everybody around you. This may involve some difficult conversations to ensure that you and your partner are operating with the same attitude. Because it could result in sacrifices. If you need to build your business but there’s a lot going on with the family, these difficult conversations do not make things easy, but it is the best way to ensure that you all communicate as a family, and make the relevant sacrifices, you included!
Making More of Your Time
Time management is one of the biggest skills that always comes up as an entrepreneur. It’s important to remember that as a parent, you’ve got to manage your time efficiently but you’ve got to manage your time as an entrepreneur. It becomes crucial to structure your days. This means you have to have certain rules in place, especially when your family is around. Whether this means blocking time out to have certain meetings or take the kids to school, the importance of blocking time out so you can be an effective parent is crucial. This means that when you are working, you dedicate 110% to the role, but also do the same for your kids. One should never bleed into the other. That way, you can be far more dedicated to each component. Using techniques like the 80/20 principle, or the Pomodoro Technique are things that many entrepreneurs already practice, and if you haven’t, now is the ideal opportunity.
Have an Outlet Beyond Being a Dad and Entrepreneur
If you feel burnt out, it’s going to negatively impact your abilities in both areas. You are human, after all. Think about outlets that take your mind off work, and give you energy to other aspects of your life.
It’s the balance that everybody struggles with, especially over the last 15 months. No doubt you have learned many lessons from what has gone on, however, these are lessons we should take with us for the rest of our lives. There is no reason why you cannot build a great business and be a great parent, you’ve just got to follow some of these rules.
(Cover Image: Pexels)