06 Aug Entrepreneur Tip of the Week: Time Shift

As an entrepreneur, you have the freedom to create your own schedule. It’s not any easy task to figure out how many hours you devote to building your business, especially when you have a family. Each individual finds their own balance between time at home and time at work. Time shifting is one way to find balance without sacrificing your entrepreneurial ambitions.

If my 11-year old son has an event at his school at 9:00 AM, I make sure not to schedule anything that would conflict with it. It hasn’t always been that simple:  once, an annual Reverse Merger Conference in New York was scheduled for the same day as my son’s elementary school graduation. I was supposed to be a speaker there at the same time as graduation, but I really couldn’t miss that conference! Fortunately I was able to solve the problem by requesting to speak on an afternoon panel instead, as my son’s graduation was in the morning. I only ended up missing about 90 minutes of the day long conference.

Remember that it’s important to reserve time in the week not only for your family but also for yourself. You have time for whatever you want to make time for. What about that gym you wanted to try out, or those tennis lessons you were thinking of taking? Time shift: if you have a large packet to read on the same day that an old friend is coming to town, wake up early, stay up late, and move around your schedule. Work hard to include time with family or “me” time. It will help get your mind off of work, take part in activities you enjoy and be with the people you love.