Something that became clear to me quite soon after going all in on my business was that there is no “finished” at the end of the day. There’s always more you can do – more outreach, more marketing, more building of offers, more learning.
I’d say two things kept me from trying to work in every available moment: having made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t work on my laptop while I’m around my daughter and growing up with a desire to work quickly and efficiently so I could have a proper “Feierabend” (the German concept of free time during the rest of your day after finishing work and before going to sleep).
But: I still found work crept into parts of my day. Correction: trying to work, but not really doing a good job at it, also known as scrolling LinkedIn.
I felt I should be working, so I opened LinkedIn, because networking is also part of what I do. But I ended up scrolling through content instead of spending 15 minutes intentionally connecting with people. And before I knew it, an hour or more of my weekend evening had disappeared.
So a few months ago I started reclaiming my weekend. I’d take Maggie for a walk and water the garden because we have glorious long daylight hours up north during spring and summer.
I still scrolled, but less.
A couple of weeks ago I deleted LinkedIn off my phone. My plan was to really be more intentional about how I use it, i.e. to write, engage and connect with people and to read things and then move on, rather than scroll endlessly
I’m pleased to say it has worked and that has given me a much clearer separation of work and free time during my evenings and weekends.
Work as a business owner can be there all the time. Even if you build chairs and can only do that in the workshop, there are still new customers to be won, marketing to be done and invoices to send. It doesn’t stop.
But it does help to have boundaries so the benefit of being your own boss feels like a real benefit. At least that’s something I’ve found really important.