What’s the right balance between work and non-work time? The traditional 9-5 has slowly disappeared with the emails and zoom and texting going far beyond traditional business hours. We asked members of our community to share with us how they think about work-life balance.

Zach Schwindt | Founder

I used to be big on organizing time for work and time for rest. I feel like everything is much more chaotic now, but not in a bad way. I think that is the natural cycle of growth. I have grown a lot in 2020, both personally and professionally, and I would like to continue this growth into 2021, but I feel as if it’s time to step back and put some more effective systems into place so I know things remain sustainable. I am much more focused on building a sustainable workflow than learning how to balance work and rest. Read more>>

Spirit Corley | Small Business Owner & Creator

Work-life balance during the pandemic has been interesting and it’s taken on a whole new meaning now that life, as we know, has changed. This year, I’ve had to be more intentional with creating a better balance. I’m not sure I really had a great work-life balance thing before the pandemic (workaholic), but I did work at creating mindful moments and space to be creative, enjoy conscious cooking, fitness and focus on work. Work-life balance can be challenging when there’s so much to juggle, but it definitely looks different now during COVID-19 when all you can do is stay home but luckily I still workout and of course escape in creativity. I enjoy being able to do lunchtime meditations now that I’m working from home, making healthy vegan meals between projects and just being more mindful. There are some things I can’t control now but what I can control is how I respond to things. I miss family and friends because they balance me, and that’s been hard. Read more>>

Kiley Burke | Owner

Oh man, my balance has been all over the place! When I first started Thunder & Twine I would work every waking hour, but since it very rarely felt like work I wouldn’t’ even notice when I was putting in 16 hour days. After having this company for almost three years, my time management has changed dramatically! I’m reminding myself to only work a certain amount of time in the day and then actually live my life a little. Read more>>

Lady Kellsie Moore | Video Presence Coach & Actress

This question of balance particularly jumped out at me today considering how much 2020 has thrown us all, off-balance. When we’re working in a career job that has a boss, a structured schedule and paid holidays, the balance is somewhat provided for us, but when we’re on our own as entrepreneurs, it’s up to ourselves to figure out what needs to be, when and how and it absolutely can become all-consuming. My first few years out of college were spent working at an engineering firm downtown in the mornings 9am-12noon and then across town from 1pm-9pm at the correctional facility and then working a photobooth at weddings on the weekends, all just to make ends meet. I became exhausted, depleted, drained, cynical, angry and was suffering from massive panic attacks. I didn’t know anything about personal growth yet at the time and, my marriage, my body, my spirit all dwindled as I continued to disempower my own life. Read more>>

Connor Lock | Creative Director, Artist, Designer & A Visual Craftsman

At first there was no work life balance. When I first started the business I was constantly second guessing myself, researching, failing, learning, etc. It consumed my life but I knew that I had to go all-in to see it take off. I devoted my life to it knowing that once the battle at sea subsided I would be able to recalculate and charter my way to smoother waters. Business is all about being able to adapt to any conditions the adventure will throw at you. Years later, I now know how to manage my time better while also balancing the ship through tidal waves. Putting my physical and mental health is priority number one now. I should have started this sooner. This will sound simple but I asked myself the question “how can you run a business if you can’t run a business” meaning if you burn yourself out who’s gonna run the business? The healthier you are, physically and mentally, the sharper the decisions you can make. Read more>>

Jenn Lane | Physical Therapist & Pelvic Floor Specialist

I love my work and I love my family too! It has always been challenging for me to strike that balance between work and life and recently I have realized it takes some planning, effort and intention. I have set my work schedule to allow for a couple morning hikes for my own mental and physical wellness and I come home early 2 days per week to spend time with my kids and my husband. On these afternoons, we take the dog for a walk, watch a TV show together or just talk about the day. In addition to this, I have structured my work day so that I don’t bring my work home with me every night. When I’m home, I’m present, not finishing up work to-do’s. I’d love to say that this has been easy to set up and carry out, but it hasn’t. I have to remind myself daily to just tell people “no” especially if saying “yes” infringes on time with family. Read more>>

Candice Kingston | Leadership and Success Coach for Business Owners and Executives

This is the #1 topic clients come to me about. There may be a problem underneath the problem but this is a very common symptom. To be honest, I used to say Balance is Bull*$&! There will never be a 50/50 split of your time between work and home and you are never able to leave your personal life at home, and leave your work life at work, especially now when you are most likely working at home! However, I have eased up on my assessment, knowing that at the end of the day it’s just semantics. We all want more time with our families and fewer feelings of overwhelm, stress, and burnout from work. We all make time for what is most pressing at the moment so how do we become more present in those moments as well so we feel less pulled in a million different directions? Have a very clear idea of your vision for both your career/business and life is the first step to creating more balance in your life. Read more>>

Sarah J. Bohnenkamp | Leadership Coach

Just a few days ago I shared a post on Instagram where I proclaimed I was a recovering “work-a-holic,” and it kind of surprised me. I acknowledged the fact that it’s likely easier for me now that my kids are older, which means less super early or late days because I’m getting more work done during the actual “normal” work-day, because both my son and daughter are now in elementary school, but I think it’s way more than that. Our culture is changing. I’ve been seeing a stronger narrative around NOT glamorizing over-working and I’m thankful because as a young professional I thought I HAD to work 80-hour weeks to show my loyalty and value. Then, I’d beat myself up for doing it…and for not being “smart” enough to get all my commitments done in a standard 40-hour work week. I was rewarded for the results I garnered, further feeding my need to work like a mad-woman. Read more>>

Lauren Fuhr | Designer & Artist

I have learned a lot about balance through the past couple years of running this business on the side of a full time job, social life, weekend travel, spending time with family, being a dog mom (Wilson has seen it all), and now planning a wedding. But the first thing I’ll say is that because I love what I do for work, both my full-time day job and my side business don’t really feel like work. So as a result, I think about the balance as a little bit more fluid than some. But even so, prioritizing is key every day. On a professional level, my full time job always comes first and it takes up all of my 8am-6pm days during the week. Since it is equally creative, designing digital branding for a watch and accessories company, it is a joy to put it first everyday and I love it. On a personal level, my people always come first. Read more>>

Erin Cell | Social Media Strategist & Podcast Producer focused on Blockchain & Alternative Social Media Platforms

When I first started my business I worked ALL the time. I mean ALL the time. After being in business for over 6 years, I now work when I want and play when I want. I try to keep ‘work’ to certain days, but things are a bit different as an entrepreneur. I often work on Sundays, but then I may not do any work on a Tuesday. It’s definitely a balance, but it works. You need to do what you need to do in the beginning, but once you’ve been doing this for a bit you can adjust for what works for you. Read more>>

Brooke Arciniega | Interior Designer & Yoga Instructor

I love this question! Like so many business owners, at the beginning, I put so much pressure on myself to work long, hard hours and while I do believe that this is somewhat necessary with running your own business, it certainly isn’t at the cost of our health and wellbeing. Over the years, I’ve learned to run my business in a way that allows me to take plenty of time off, spend it with the people I love and do the things that make me happy. I’ve begun to realize that my definition of success is running a business I truly love, not overworking myself and having plenty of time to enjoy life. Read more>>

Dr. Lindsay Regehr | Chiropractor & Lifestyle Coach

Work life balance is a made-up framework that everyone dreams about and strives to achieve, but is impossible to achieve. When starting a business, it’s necessary to put your head down, grind out long hours when needed, and stay focused on why you started your business in the first place. It’s a lot of time and effort in the beginning to do the market research, networking, establishing yourself as a brand and not just a product – these all require your attention and will take away the time you would like to be spending with friends and family. Hopefully you are surrounded by friends and family who understand that you are sacrificing time with them now for a big pay off in the future. With that being said, there are healthier ways to deal with the work life imbalance. Read more>>

Peri Bolts | Founder, Eclectic CO.

Work life balance has been very challenging for me as an entrepreneur. I have never been afraid of hard work and long hours, but I left the corporate world because of feeling unfulfilled by 60+ hour work weeks, working for large corporations. Becoming an entrepreneur has not lessened the number of hours that I work, but it has certainly changed my relationship to my work. I do what I love, I keep my greater mission and values at the heart of everything that I do and try to enjoy as much of the work as possible. I have learned a lot about work life balance in 2020: with the drastic dichotomies of work happening in our society: some having all and some having none. Read more>>

Karen Edgerly | Silversmith & Teacher

My work life balance has dramatically changed over time. I never thought about it when I was working and raising my kids. I was a yes girl and loaded my plate until it overflowed; work, kids, family, travel and socializing. I stopped in my tracks about 10 years ago when I got a virus that affected my heart. Ever since then, I stop to think about my work life balance on almost a daily basis, but definitely on a weekly basis. What do I want to add to my work or not add? What travel makes sense and what will stress me out? How can I be more present? It’s ongoing, but I am glad that it is part of my weekly thought process. Read more>>

Ydaiber Orozco | Actor, Producer, & Entrepreneur

Balance was something I always looked for; however, I have learned that for me, balance is the ability to do many things I love. I grew up in a traditional home where balance was having a job and a family life, but I discovered that I thrive when I’m balancing more than that, when many things light me up and when I have the option to change my mind if I want to. Read more>>

Krista Shiner | Multidisciplinary Artist

It’s changed dramatically and continues to evolve to a more sustainable practices so I am able to be at my best professionally and personally. I’ve gone through long periods of not balancing between the two; starting during college when I was working full time and going to school. Long hours over a span of time started to feel like the norm. A life-long friend and I had this conversation before as we both felt it was engrained in us that it was necessary to sacrifice yourself to get anywhere in life. Wait until you retire mentality. That is not a way to live. I feel like a lot of people have that conditioned belief system and it is changing. Over the years I’ve incorporated more balance as what evolved was a huge awareness of the detriment it had been causing in my professional and personal life. Read more>>

Bianca and Nikko Gallardo | Visual Artists

Over this past year with the pandemic, our work life balance has definitely changed quite a bit. At the beginning of the year, we had quite a few events planned that we were excited to be a part of so we were feeling very motivated and ready to hit the ground running. By the beginning of March, it became clear that this year was not going to go as planned. For awhile, especially during the stay-at-home order, we struggled with being able to stay creatively motivated and inspired but we did our best to fight through the anxiety we were feeling about the state of the world and all of the uncertainty that went along with that. We tried to push ourselves to work and finish pieces when we could, but we also quickly figured out that we needed to be understanding with ourselves given the circumstances and give ourselves time to rest and relax mentally. Read more>>

Dante Burl | Realtor & Fitness Instructor/Manager

I love this question and I have actually come to the conclusion that there isn’t always a work life balance, but a work life flow for me! I am BUSY 99% of the time, but I do make sure to take that 1% off haha. For me, I have definitely had to work at the work life flow and it has absolutely evolved over time. In my world, it might be a Monday or random Tuesday that I take “off” and for a long time that was really hard for me to accept. Feeling like while everyone else was working, i wasn’t. Was I being lazy? So I would find something that I could do and end up not taking the time off! But that doesn’t prove to be sustainable and is not the best for your mental health. I’ve learned and realized to give myself grace when I need it. If i’m taking a Tuesday off, it’s because I worked all weekend, and I deserved that mental break. Read more>>

Victoria Amato Kennedy | Maker + Marketer + Momma

Work-Life Balance has been quite interesting, especially over the past year! In addition to my Morse Code Jewelry business, Morse & Mantra, I started a second jewelry experiment called clAyVA (named after my 3-year-old daughter, Ava) (Instagram @clayva.jewelry) – where I make polymer clay earrings (mostly). The clAyVA endeavor has tapped into a previously-frozen? forgotten? side of my artistic and creative nature in a way I’d NEVER expected, and I have such a fun time doing both jewelry lines. The sentimental nature of Morse & Mantra, and the artistic/tactile/colorful nature of clAyVA are both so fulfilling in different ways! And since I still work as a freelance marketing consultant, and my daughter can’t attend childcare because of Covid-19, it’s been quite a balancing act to keep it all organized and flowing smoothly! Read more>>

Dannia Gazley | Spanish Teacher & Founder of ¡Hola! Learn Spanish

Work-life balance is absolutely important to me. In fact, this was one of the main reasons as to why I decided to become an entrepreneur. Since I started my own business, I have been able to achieve a healthy balance between my work and my personal life. By being my own boss, I have the liberty to create a work schedule that fits me and my personal needs. It is very fulfilling to take control of your life and enjoy success in your work without sacrificing your personal life. I have learned that it is possible to achieve both and that you need to create it for yourself. Read more>>

Corie Rosen | Writer, Editor, Educator

My balance has changed so much! I had my first child almost a year ago and, as any new parent will tell you, a baby completely upends the balance of all things. It’s a wonderful upending, and at the same time, you absolutely need a strategy to manage the chaos. I had six rounds of edits with my publisher and a book release all while we were in the throes of new baby life (and a major sleep regression…or twelve). I used to think of my university teaching job and my writing as the two things I had to balance, but now there is an endless list of things I feel like I should be doing at any given moment…nearly all of which are not work. Everybody talks about the guilt parents feel, but it is worth repeating that the struggle to balance work and self care with looking after your children is real and ongoing, especially for moms who tend to do more of the kid-related work. Read more>>

Caroline Robert | Wedding & Commercial Photographer

Admittedly, I used to be quite a workaholic. When I first started my photography business right after college, I had many work days lead well into the night. I was photographing about 50 weddings a year on top of about 30 portrait sessions, it was too much. I didn’t have many friends, I was generally unhealthy, and while I was excited about this new venture, it wasn’t sustainable long term. Since then, I am happy to take my weekends completely off when I don’t have a wedding and enjoy my evenings off. Friends and hobbies are now a huge part of what keeps me inspired and creative during shoots. Read more>>

Heather Bohlinger | Executive Leadership Coach

Work life balance is something we hear about a lot and yet seems to be one of the greatest struggles that working people, and especially working parents experience. As a wife, mom of 4, and business woman for the last 24 years I have experienced the same struggle during many different seasons of my life and career. One of the things I have found is that the word balance indicates equal parts for those things that are being weighed. When we think about our life, it is very improbable that we have equal time for family, work, friendship, personal growth, etc… so when we use the word balance, it seems we often come up short. Instead, I have shifted to seeking work life harmony. Harmony means “the combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce chords having a pleasing effect.” This seems more doable. Read more>>

Alexi Neal | Yoga Therapist, Reiki Master, and Embodied Tarot Guide

To me, balance is continuously shifting. Especially as women, we need to honor the reality that our energy ebbs and flows in cycles – and we will be so much more able to harness our passion and inspiration if we don’t try to force ourselves when the energy simply isn’t present. This mindset is radically at odds with the way our culture wants us to behave, and the 9-5 Monday-Friday system doesn’t really acknowledge or support it. It also challenges the idea that we are what we produce. Do we still have value if we have an unproductive, restful week on the heels of a productive one? Absolutely, but for many of us- myself included- it hasn’t ever felt that way. We are supposed to do, do, and do some more – and if we stop, even for a short time, many of us have inner critics that will start firing up why we aren’t worthy of our dreams and desires. Read more>>