Do you consider yourself a workaholic? ‌💻‌ ‌☕‌

[Ani_]

Hi Sellers!

This week, we’d like to know….

Do you consider yourself a workaholic?

We’re aware that many sellers are approaching the busy workload of the festive season. What are some tips and tricks you practice to improve work life balance? 

Share with us below! ✨

[vinesandrushes]

I consider myself an entrepreneur.  I grew up on a dairy farm.  Entrepreneurs and farmers live a lifestyle business but most would probably consider me a workaholic.

[Ani_]

An entrepreneur - love that! I've always dreamed of living in a dairy farm. Perhaps one day 💭 🙏

[TCSlaguna]

Yep, I am definitely a workaholic, maybe a little bit of a perfectionist. I think you somewhat have to be in order to create a positive shopping experience. I am the one that finds the dust under the furniture where 99.9% of customers will not see. I am the one replacing the small halogen light bulbs with big LED bulbs so the products are well lit. There is always room for improvement, so there is always more for me to do. 

I will let you know when I start the whole work-life balance thing. 😅 Until then, I'd love to know what others do! 

[Ani_]

@TCSlaguna "I am the one that finds the dust under the furniture where 99.9% of customers will not see. I am the one replacing the small halogen light bulbs with big LED bulbs so the products are well lit." Love this! It's all in the details 😊

[Doran]

Yes, 1000% yes.  

[Ani_]

Guilty as well, @Doran! ✋ What gets you through the busy days? For me, it's lots and lots of 🍵 and making sure I take a daily walk to get some energy!

[Doran]

Daily walks are my go to also!

[VR21]

I do not consider myself a workaholic, but I do know that I like to do my best in what I do.  

[Ani_]

@VR21 💛 🙌

[Lovewell]

I am definitely a workaholic! I will stay at work as long as I can, go in on my scheduled day off, talk about work after it has ended and never get tired of it!

My sisters on the other hand are much better at having a work life balance. Most of the time they will use their phones very minimally at home and have a 5 o'clock cut off time and after that they can't talk about work at all.

We also close the last week of December to to able to spend some much needed time with family after the crazy holiday season.

[DLRosenberg]

Yes.. and no.

Do I work a lot? Absolutely.

Do I 100% love what I do? Yes.

So outsiders would definitely think I am a workaholic but I love love love what I do. It gives me so much meaning and purpose. 

Gary V. Says, "success is a self awareness game." I 100% agree with this. If you are totally into the grind and loving your day- are you really a workaholic? I feel like workaholic has a negative connotation and it's so important to be hyper aware of who you are as a person and what you like- and follow that lead.

[JUYBoutique20]

I love this...I love what I do and I'm so glad I get to live my dream of being a boutique owner.

[OldCoder]

I'm obsessed with righting wrongs. Once all the wrongs are righted I go 😲

I guess that's why software development suits me. There is no such thing

as flawless software. There is always a wrong to right.

[sugarlab]

Yea and I'm working on it. Trying to be more present when I'm home with my kids. Ideally I would focus on work when I'm at the bakery, and focus on my family when I'm with the family. Of course, things come up on your off days, so as a business owner, you're never really off the clock. 

[JUYBoutique20]

I'm definitely a workaholic...I have goals I want to accomplish with this business and expansion is one of them...I still try to take time for myself by going to the spa once a month...going on date nights twice a month, and I always have family movie/game night...It's important to have these breaks even if you have to schedule it...

[ReginaRMT]

No I do not consider my self a workaholic. I try to limit my total work hours to around 25 hours a week. I do take as many courses as possible related to my line of work. I also take part in a 2x a month zoom meeting for 2 hours per meeting with the Provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons. I love learning and would do these meeting even if they were longer in length. I like dry boring talks that ramble on.

One of the things I do is take my active lifestyle seriously and play as many sports as possible or just go for a run, bike or swim.

[EOHRAH_Arts]

From 2019-2021 I would stay up until 3 in the morning working nonstop. That was when I was at my worst, I was never sleeping, always putting out new work and not getting anything in return because I was too drained to properly manage my business. This year I cut down a lot of the overworking and reminded myself to set a personal schedule for when it's work time and when it's not. It's good to set boundaries for yourself in order to not overwork like that.

[QuokkaCoffee]

I'm a recovering workaholic. (Cue the 'hi, my name is...')

I like what I do and I'm good at it but more recently I've been making more of an effort to not bring too much work home or stay back at the cafe for longer than I have to.

For a long time it was difficult to divest my sense of self-worth from the business. Lots of pressure to be "the brand" at all times. But behind "the brand" was an exhausted human being who definitely needed to sleep more, eat better, and exercise.

Transparency with the team has become a part of trying to achieve work-life balance. I've tried to be as open as possible about my struggles with mental health and the burden of entrepreneurship which, I feel, has made them more willing to share their own hardships/be able to better support each other on days when they're not feeling 100%.

I'd like to think we're stronger for it. 🙂

(Also, reading and doing some creative writing/self-reflection for an hour every day of the week has become a non-negotiable.)

[Anthem]

I'd love to say no. But, my friends and family would quickly call me to the table. Challenge is, when you love what you're doing, why stop? Always more of a good thing to be done. 

[weredoughcookie]

I personally struggle with overwork. I always have the feeling that if I don't do it, it won't get done. But I have 4 other employees now and learning to delegate is important.

I find that looking at the schedule to figure out where you could step back and swap days or shifts with someone else to achieve more time off is helpful.

Other than that having hobbies outside of work that you do for just you. Whether that be going for walks, hiking, crafting, gaming, etc. Having something to do even for just 10 minutes outside of work each day helps a lot.