Connect with us

Success Advice

6 Tips for CEOs to Master Work-Life Balance

Published

on

how ceos can have better work-life balance
Image Credit: Unsplash

For many CEOs, workdays mostly consist of managing an almost endless stream of emergencies. It can be difficult for them to find time for strategizing, generating ideas, and developing long-term goals because they’re constantly putting out fires. These dueling responsibilities can easily lead to burnout and sacrifices in the executive’s personal life to make more time for work.

Companies entrust CEOs with a wide range of responsibilities. Because of this, top execs typically carry an extremely heavy workload and often don’t get a chance to rest and recharge.

If you’re a busy CEO of a company of any size, use these six tips to stop sleeping in your office and find a healthy work-life balance:

1. Recharge Whenever Possible

You might not have the luxury of a whole day or weekend off—few CEOs do. But that doesn’t mean that you should give up on recharging altogether. Find small opportunities to reset whenever you can. Spend an evening with your family or take a long lunch to give yourself a chance to rest and reflect.

It’s also a good idea to take more time to recharge when the workload slows down. There will naturally be slower and busier weeks, and as the CEO you need to ride that wave and recharge whenever there’s a lull. Look for those opportunities and seize them—it’s all too easy to fill valuable time with busy work.

2. Delegate

As a CEO, you have many responsibilities, but how many of those do you actually need to be taking on yourself? After all, you’re not an expert in every aspect of day-to-day company operations. That’s just impossible. Give some of those responsibilities to employees who are more qualified to perform those tasks. 

CEOs can create more value for their companies by focusing on what they do best and delegating the rest. Putting your energy toward mission, values, strategy, vision, and growth will not only help the company succeed, but will also create more time for a healthy work-life balance.

3. Acknowledge Your Personal Needs

CEOs are people too, and even those who run huge companies understand the importance of balance and personal time. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s tip is to “find your rhythm,” which is different for everyone. For some people, being home in the evenings is important. For others, it’s finding time to exercise or get enough sleep. 

What’s important is to acknowledge your own personal need to help avoid burnout. If you start feeling resentful, you won’t improve your work-life balance and you’ll probably start to encounter trouble at work. Figuring out your rhythm and personal priorities is key.

4. Prioritize Your Downtime

As a CEO, your to-do list is never-ending. You’ll never get to the end of it, so you need to schedule downtime into your schedule knowing that you’ll never be truly finished. You may choose to take the weekends off, the evenings, or a completely different schedule depending on the needs of the business, but regardless of when you make time for downtime, it’s important to be present during your time off. Use your downtime purposefully, whether you choose to use it to build connections with friends and loved ones, care for yourself, relax, or just go for a walk. It’s your time to recharge your batteries and it’s important to prioritize those needs.

5. Establish Boundaries

Work will fill the time it’s given, so if you don’t create clear boundaries, it’s easy to let your life become your work. One way to establish boundaries is to put a natural limit on certain activities. GM CEO Mary Barra uses this tactic by scheduling meetings near the end of the workday. The meeting has to stop at a specific time because she has to leave for her child’s sporting event. These clear boundaries can prevent work from creeping into your personal life and force you to take time for yourself. It also sends a strong and important message to your team: it’s okay to have a life.

6. Take Technology Breaks

When you take your downtime, really take it. No answering emails or taking calls when you’re off the clock. One of the best ways to really recharge is to take breaks from technology. Leaving your phone and laptop behind while you walk your dog, play with your kids, read a book, or hit the gym is a great way to really be present or reflect and de-stress. Take breaks from the screen as often as you can!

Don’t Let Life Pass You By

It’s so important to live your life, even when it feels like you can’t take any time away from the office. Studies show that 51% of professionals miss important family events because of work-life imbalance. You don’t want to look back on your life someday and feel regret. Take a day off from time to time. The company will survive and may even be better off because you’ll be rested and ready for anything.

Ryan Ayers has consulted a number of Fortune 500 companies within multiple industries including information technology and big data. After earning his MBA in 2010, Ayers also began working with start-up companies and aspiring entrepreneurs, with a keen focus on data collection and analysis.

Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Success Advice

Why You Shouldn’t Discount A Brick And Mortar Store In 2025

We’re constantly told about how stores are closing down and how shoppers prefer online options, but is it worth questioning this theory?

Published

on

How to grow a brick and mortar store
Image Credit: Midjourney

In 2024, you’d be forgiven for thinking that physical shopping is a thing of the past. We’re constantly told about how stores are closing down and how shoppers prefer online options. But is it worth questioning this theory? (more…)

Continue Reading

Success Advice

How to Alter Your Business Approach With Technological Advancements

Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.

Published

on

altering business approach
Image Credit: Midjourney

Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.

There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.

Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.

Embed the strength of AI and ML.

AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.  

Bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.

ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses. 

In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.

Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities

Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased. 

Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information. 

Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place. 

In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development

You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.

You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.

Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.

Developing key skills to achieve goals

Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.

Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.

Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.

Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.

Development/Coding Knowledge

Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.

Hacking proof framework

There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.

Communication Abilities/Soft Skills

Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:

Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.

Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.

Agile Implementations

It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.

  • Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds. 
  • Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
  • Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
  • Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them. 
  • Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.

  • Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
  • Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
  • Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.

Conclusion

There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.

Continue Reading

Success Advice

Understanding the Power of Yes and No: How to Create Boundaries For Success

These words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds

Published

on

Creating legal boundaries
Image Credit: Midjourney

The two smallest yet most powerful words in life, “Yes” and “No,” have a big impact on our growth on both personal and professional levels. In addition to affecting the choices we make every day, these words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds. (more…)

Continue Reading

Motivation

From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone

By understanding what motivates you, you can turn your dreams into reality

Published

on

How to be motivated
Image Credit: Midjourney

Are you tired of feeling like a couch potato? Do you want to transform your life and become a go-getter? You’re not alone! Many people struggle with motivation, but the good news is that change is possible. (more…)

Continue Reading

Trending