When Work-Life Balance Doesn’t Exist

Written By: Daniel Francavilla, Creative Director, Now Creative Group

We are all guilty of either working too hard, feeling bad for not working as hard as others, or, of humble-bragging about how “busy” we are and how hard we’re working all the time.

But when this work is your passion, it’s not so easy to completely shut things down. You don’t “leave work at the office” when the office is your brain. Entrepreneurs are not working 9 to 5, but we love what we do so this is the life we choose.

I remember Arlene Dickinson (Dragon’s Den investor) said a few years ago that work-life balance doesn’t exist for entrepreneurs — and that, despite mainstream advice, we shouldn’t even be trying to achieve it:

“When you’re an entrepreneur, you don’t have a job — at least not in the conventional sense of that word. You have a calling. And unlike a job, a calling defines you as a person. It’s who you are.”  —  Arlene Dickinson

I think the key to work-life balance is to stay in control and know when it’s time to change things up, take a break, or rethink your routine. Everyone has different opinions on what’s considered hard-work or putting in too much time. A huge part of being an entrepreneur (at least for me) is having the flexibility and freedom to change directions, try new things, work from anywhere I want and at the times I’m most productive. That of course includes travelling, not missing family events, and rest when needed!

Fellow entrepreneur, Daniel Lewis, and I discussed how we manage our time, what we consider realistic for work-life balance, and what our varying schedules actually consist of — which you can watch in this video.