One of the things that I hear most often from business leaders is that they have no balance in their life. I feel a great deal of empathy for them, as I understand how demanding their job is and how difficult it can be.

While it is challenging to have balance, it is also essential! Having balance allows you to spend time with the people you love, do the things you love, and stay mentally, physically, and emotionally healthy.

The first thing you need to do is understand what it looks like for you. Balance is different for every person. Some examples are:

• Being able to take a couple of days a week off

• Working a certain amount of hours

• The ability to travel

• Having time to spend with family and friends

• Having time to do hobbies

• Being able to integrate your family into your work and also take time away from work

Once you have this clarity on what it looks like, then begin to reverse engineer it. To do this start with scheduling and prioritization. Brendon Burchard says, scheduling = freedom. When you can wisely plan out your day it allows you to get more done at work and have more time for life outside of work. Make sure to schedule time for family, friends, and activities.

When prioritizing look carefully at what can be eliminated, automated, and delegated. Are there things that you are doing that are not necessary? Can I automate any of my repeated tasks? What am I doing that someone else can take off my plate? You want to spend as much time working on the things you do best (your zone of genius) and what is moving your business forward (needle-moving activities).

Next, you want to make sure that you are optimizing your time by being as focused as possible. To do this make sure that you are working on one task at a time and eliminating distractions. When you do those two things you allow yourself to get into a flow state and your productivity increases.

Lastly, you need to set boundaries. With boundaries, decide what they are, communicate them, and honor them. For example, say that your boundary is that you are not going to work on Sunday and that it is going to be a family day. Then make sure to tell your team this and that you will return any messages on Monday. Then make sure you are not checking emails, taking calls, or doing any other type of work on this day. Potentially silence your phone.

Creating a work-life balance is creating the life that you want to live. One of my favorite quotes by Susan Young is, “You are the author of your own life story.” Be intentional about how you are spending your time so that you can create a life that you love!