Small Business Column: Things you may need to give up to get ahead

Achieving a proper work/life balance can be difficult and often means sacrificing something.

Kehlan Kirwan looks at what those in business have to forego

For a number of years I worked in the pub industry in the UK and anybody who has lived there will testify to the fact that going to the pub is a 365-day a year process.

They do not close on Christmas day and are ram-packed up until 3pm, when they finally do close.

To me that was pretty much the signal that I needed to spur myself on with a career or risk not being able to enjoy personal happiness thanks to a job.

It is because of this experience that I promised myself that whatever I would end up doing, I would make time for the things that were important to me.

I run my own business but I have made it a priority to serve family just as much as I serve my business.

From six or seven in the morning to midnight I am on the work clock.

Stopping intermittently to pick up my son, sit down to or make dinner with the family or read stories for bed.

I know it means staying up later that evening to send emails or check something out, but it is a sacrifice I make willingly.

The vast majority of the time it means that I can claim the weekend as mine and my family’s.

People who run their own business will know what this means.

We know that somewhere in our work days something will be sacrificed to be with family, usually it’s time. So we work ludicrous hours compared to the nine to five.

We drive ourselves to the limit of exhaustion in order that we find the precious moments which help us exhale and reaffirm the reason why we keep doing what we do.

For this to happen meant I had to be strict with myself and get better at time management. Make the minutes count in work so I could make them count out of it.

Very often in business we get consumed by what we do, driven by the reasons why we’re in business.

We never seem to remember ourselves, always too busy looking out for everything else.

We need time to ourselves and we need time away from our business. For some it’s hobbies and for others like me, it’s family.

In the past number of years there have been many thoughts on work/life balance, but ultimately it’s about making the time for the things that are most important to you.

That is difficult but not impossible. Allowing ourselves to step away from the business, even for just a few hours, can make all the difference.

You need to give yourself that time away or it will consume you and your passion for what you do.

We should be working to live, not living to work.