I didn't completely choose to become a business owner. It was a bit of fate and life that ( re )placed this challenge on my path.

Although I love my business, my clients, my job as an employee and my family, the four areas of my life that I love the most sometimes come together a little ( a lot ) awkwardly.

It often happens that I have a coaching session just before a chiro appointment for my oldest or that I smell the stable during a Zoom meeting with my Beta accomplice, Myriam. #reallife

As a self-employed person who also worked for my father's business, I quickly learned the importance of delegation and a well-established schedule to maintain a " life balance ".

So in this article, I will share my experience and advice on how I organize my professional and personal life using a structured approach and delegating certain tasks.

1. Plan ahead : Every Sunday, I take the time to plan my upcoming week. My appointment list is automatically added to my phone's calendar (linked to my Outlook, Gmail, assistant, Calendly, and Notion). So I take my week, one day at a time, and write it down on a paper weekly planner that I display on my refrigerator so my partner can see it at any time.
   
   Then, I identify in my diary the priority tasks and projects to be accomplished and I set realistic objectives ( lol, sometimes not ).
   
   This process helps me stay focused and manage my time effectively.
   
   

2. Establish my priorities : In my Notion , I created a table where I use the Eisenhower ranking method (I'll tell you about it in my next article). So I have 5 columns:

To do	Where I throw all my ideas and tasks that I have to do at any time during the current month (let's say) and a little more.
Urgent/important	Here I write down everything I need to do quickly that should have been done yesterday. In the best of worlds, I never have anything there, in the real world, I always have lots of stuff there.
Urgent/not important	In this column, I write down things that I need to do quickly, but which are not necessarily important.
Not urgent/Important	Here, I classify things that I would like to do in the long term and that I find important, but that I do not have time to do immediately and which end up, often, in Urgent/Important... Oopssiii
Not urgent/not important	Ultimately, this is the column where I write things that I often end up delegating since there is no need for me to be the one doing these things.

3. Set time slots : I have defined and established for quite some time now that I work on my business on Monday evenings, all day Tuesdays, Thursday evenings and all day Fridays.

There are times when I have to go over the weekend for whatever reason, but my schedule mostly sticks to that. My partner and my daughters know that when I'm in the office, even though it's really tempting to do so (especially for mini-me ), I'm not supposed to be disturbed.

This way, everyone knows when I'm available and when I need time to focus on my projects or when I have appointments. I'm not saying it's always perfect, but my boundaries are clearly established and it allows me to avoid frequent interruptions.

4. Communication : My partner and I are FAR from the example of the perfect couple who communicate so well and constantly.

My man is one of few words and I am secretive.

It's not intentional, I do n't want to deliberately hide things from him, I'm just not able to bring myself to clarify my needs.

I'm working on it!

This is one of the traits I carry over from my previous relationships which were rather toxic. In short, in terms of schedule, since mine is extremely busy and in fact, his too, we arrange things so that every Thursday, he has his evening free. (in the best of worlds and possibilities) .

He also needs his moments and this is a nice way to thank him for being with me in my projects and supporting me in my business. So we can support each other in our personal and professional goals.

I still feel the need to tell you that we have many other strengths as a couple and we have learned to read the other even if they don't tell us everything.

6. Make time for my family and myself: It is essential to dedicate quality time to my family, my spouse and myself.

So I try to plan ahead, family activities, outings or regular relaxation time in my schedule. Honestly, I'm far from perfect, so I don't always succeed.

On the other hand, since I had a concussion in October 2022, I would say that I am improving and paying more attention to signs of fatigue and irritation ( does that sound like you? ). It helps me maintain a healthy work-life balance.

7. Plan ahead for vacations : When I have a vacation planned, I try to schedule time to prepare in advance.

Already, in order to avoid having appointments booked in my schedule at the time when I am supposed to be on vacation, I block my calendar at these times from the beginning of the year or when I know what the dates of my vacation will be.

Then, when the holidays come around, two weeks before I would say, I sit down with my To Do list and try to figure out what is a priority task that absolutely has to be done before I leave and I delegate the rest, if possible.

I also make sure to leave an out-of-office message on my email and voicemail and I inform my subcontractors and colleagues that I will be absent and for what period.

By planning ahead for my schedule, family life, children, events and vacations, setting priorities and communicating with my family and partner, I finally, after almost two years, found an " almost " balance between my professional responsibilities and my personal responsibilities.

I'm not perfect, far from it, but I'm still trying to find meaning in this mess that I created for myself. I hope this little summary will help you find meaning in yours and if you do something else, I invite you to share your tips with me in the comments!