The ability to step away without fear or guilt is a clear sign of personal readiness. This means rest and work can coexist without constant tension.
Working on an owner’s balance, along with their other five personal indicators, pays off later when it’s time to transition away from a business — and it also pays off now, in terms of decision-making, mental health, and family time.
What does balance mean as a personal indicator for readiness?
How do you spend your time outside of work? If your first reaction was to think, “What time outside of work?” then you’ve got a balance issue.
Part of personal readiness is balance, which means intentionally building a life outside your business that restores your energy and perspective. Without activities and time away from work, a business owner’s world slowly shrinks — and this tunnel vision affects other personal indicators like identity, mindset, and awareness.
Years or even decades before exiting a business, cultivating balance pays off both at work and away from it. Balance is about building your life, allowing the business to stand on its own rather than resting entirely on your shoulders. This creates choice and freedom, at any stage of your work life.
Owners who are building balance make sure to take care of their health, get quality sleep, and move their bodies. They prioritize time with family and maintain connections outside of work.
Balance is about making room for what’s important to you: community time, enjoying your children, spiritual practices, social gatherings, intellectual pursuits, hobbies, sports, and the list goes on. Ignoring these basic human needs will cause any business owner to feel exhausted, short-tempered, and stuck. That leads to bad performance and bad decisions.
Maintaining balance, that is, restoring your perspective and energy, is not just necessary for you to be present for your family and community — it’s vital to how you operate your business.
Remember, you’re growing a business! Everyone needs time to reset. We understand that some owners put 70 hours a week into their business — and yes, it is possible to do so and still maintain balance with proper time management. Achieving balance isn’t just injecting as many “fun” outside activities as possible, it’s understanding what is important to you and how all personal indicators work together.
Taking our Beyond Soaring Index online is a good starting point. Then give us a call and we can talk about how to build a strategy that achieves business growth while preserving balance.
