I think that most of us, in our individual professions really encounter that work/life balance problem sooner or later. I have to admit, in the recent weeks, I have taken a step back, re-evaluated my definition of success, and really mapped out my major goals for the next six or so months. I also cut down on instant messenging, preferring email and phone conversations, and have stopped reading an rss feed.

Those steps alone have both increased my output in terms of quantity and quality, as my websites are actually doing better by publishing content that I originate.

I definitely appreciate your thoughts, and please don’t stop commenting. That is one thing I don’t get enough of :0)

This meant that my personal life did suffer as you are describing, but I thought that once I finished my other full time job, which I did in August 2006, I would then be able to focus my standard working hours on my own business then balance this with evenings and weekends for personal time.

As is the nature of establishing a a business, this idea of much more personal time didn’t materialise, instead I was still working 14 hours weekdays and full weekends, with the goal being building a successful business.

Strangely enough, around the time when I also started blogging (at this time I wasn’t even sure where I would find the time, but I needed this release to allow me to focus some of my working week on my actual core discipline and experience, user centred/user experience design and information architecture) I also came to realise that I was ‘too deep in the woods’.

This was around 2 months ago, and since this time I have made much of an effort to ensure my work/life balance allows me more time to enjoy life.

This isn’t to say I’m now not working as hard, its just I’m alot more conscious that by getting a better balance will be beneficial to me and my family on a variety of levels.

As a final note, as you have also experienced, all the hard work so far has been very worthwhile, on a business growth level and networking level, so I have no regrets as to how much effort I have put into work over the last 3 years.

Good luck with your on-going work/life balance!

Like yourself, i enjoy blogging. Quite often i can whack out three articles a day. It is this that has made me realise that i need to bring back some balance into my life.

Finding the balance is key, i dont want the pace of growth to reduce in any way, at the same time i want to, for once in a long while, not turn a computer on at the start of a day.

I havent managed the balance yet, but i am getting there.

This happened to me, in my past life in a “real” job. I ended up burning out.

As a passionate entrepreneur too, I’ve noticed my tendency to try juggling too many balls at once. I have to keep myself in check continually. It’s a constant balancing act and I still consider myself a work in progress, but I seem to have found a beat that works for me and my growing family!!

Good luck and keep blogging. Your passion comes out loud and clear and I love reading your insights.

Blogging is a hobby/profession for me as well. I am as passionate about it as I am anything. Sometimes when an article isn’t quite going the way you like it can be stressful, but I love it nonetheless.

I am looking forward to the exploration of blogging. I will get into that a little more, but I am trying to frame it in my mind before I say much more. This site is going to be a little more focused on providing entrepreneurial resources and explanation to people. Critiquing the web will still play out though :0)

As always, thank you for your support :0)

Good for you!

You’ll probably find you’re more energetic and healthier during the week if you take some time off on the weekends.

Blogging is a hobby for me to that I enjoy. on rare occasions it can be stressful, but usually its relaxing!