How to find a balance between work and personal life. How to help employees find work-life balance. Let yourself be helped

We are so busy with everyday worries that we do not have time and energy to achieve our goals. They seem somehow distant after problems at work and at home. But Steve McCletchy in his book “From Urgent to Important” assures: it is the desire for goals that will help you not burn out and get everything done.

Why do we burn out?

If you waste your energy only on staying busy at work and managing things at home, an imbalance will arise. This in turn leads to burnout.

Burnout occurs when we do the same thing day after day and feel no progress. Life is not improving, there is nothing to be proud of - and this makes you suffer.

Health deteriorates due to stress. We make impulse purchases to please ourselves a little. Or we lose income because due to lack of ambition we work worse.

The answer to the question of how not to completely stall is to let success into your life. The desire for success will eliminate the feeling of running in place. Balance will reign and everything will be possible.

Is there a balance?

The problem of balance is not far-fetched. Steve McCletchy cites research showing that 88% of people find it difficult to choose between work and personal life, 57% consider this a serious problem, and 64% say they feel physically exhausted after work.

At the same time, we are forced to value work. The phrases “record unemployment” and “how to survive the crisis” are heard all around. We have to take on more responsibilities just to stay in the same position. Everyday life has turned into a race: to have time to cross things off the daily list in order to meet other people's expectations. But this is not a search for balance. It's about finding a way to survive.

Distributing a certain number of hours between work and personal life will also not bring balance. The stress that has accumulated during working hours will not disappear if you spend half the day in the office and the second half of the day at home. Balance is an immeasurable value.

Those who work 60 hours a week in high-paying jobs say they love their work. This is because they pursue success every day. The drive to succeed helps them survive grueling work hours and increased demands.

Success

Striving for success means making efforts and making improvements in your life or someone else's. Balance will appear along with pleasure from the achieved result.

This is a balance between “must do” and “don’t have to do”: when we have done what we must do to solve problems, and do what we are not obliged to do, but which will improve life. Such harmony is possible when we reach the goal and see improvements.

Success is not necessarily better or more. The point is to move towards the goal. An effective way to overcome burnout is to never stop seeking to develop aspects of your life.

If you do not strive for success and progress, then time and effort will be spent maintaining the existing order. We become fixated on the aspect that is getting worse. This leads to burnout, stress, and a feeling of despair that today is worse than yesterday.

However, reality does not have to be terrible. If you breathe deeply, work in a prestigious place, live in a happy family, but think that things will not get better, dissatisfaction will overtake you.

Let the pursuit of success become as everyday as solving problems. Wasting energy only on maintaining life is burnout. But when you move towards your goal every day, the efforts are worth it.

With every step towards success, the charge of energy is replenished. The result of your efforts becomes more noticeable. Thoughts revolve around plans for how to achieve the next goal and what improvements will follow. Resources are spent to achieve something greater rather than to maintain the status quo. Striving for success negates burnout and helps balance balance.

This is exactly how we should balance - not between work and life, but between immediate survival and progress.

Perhaps a psychologist or sociologist could explain why some Americans at the beginning of the 21st century cannot devote the necessary amount of time to these two aspects of their lives. Many companies have wellness programs in place, and that's a good thing, but the best thing they can do for their employees is to help them gain the freedom they need to not feel guilty about spending time with family at the expense of work time. First of all, it should be noted that personal life is more important than work, so working hours should fit organically into the chain of daily activities, and nothing else. Here are just a few of the tips that companies on the 2010 Best Small Business Employers list put into practice to great effect.

Flexible work schedule

Almost all of the companies included in the list of best small businesses try to adjust the work schedule to the needs of their employees. For example, Gongos Research, a $13.2 million market research company based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, gives its employees the ability to choose the hour at which their workday begins. Anna Tully, vice president of finance for 11 years, worked through every possible schedule option. She comes to work at 9.30. “In the morning, I do non-work activities like going to the gym or taking care of personal issues,” Tully says. Senior project manager Emilio Ditrapani arrives at work at 7:30. “I travel to work with my wife, so I start my work day at the same time as her,” says Ditrapani. “This way we can spend an extra hour together. Besides, we save gas. It’s very convenient.”

Distant work

An agreement to complete work tasks without leaving home has a positive effect on employee motivation and productivity. At Honest Tea, a $47 million Bethesda, Md.-based beverage company, more than 60% of its workforce works remotely. The rest are allowed to switch to remote work at any time if the need arises. Sue Mounts, a product distribution director, was forced to move to Tulsa for nine months to care for her son after he was involved in a car accident. All this time she performed her duties remotely. "I could have just put him in the hospital," Mounts says. “Instead, I had the opportunity to take him to the doctors myself. My monsieur and I were very lucky.”

Help for parents

In companies where the majority of the workforce is female, a family-friendly attitude can play a significant role. For example, the $314 million outerwear company Patagonia has a child development center at its headquarters in Ventura, California. It is designed to work with 105 staff children aged between 8 weeks and 9 years. Every day, three buses bring children to a specialized institution, whose staff organize children's leisure activities after school hours.

Back in 2003, while working at the company, Jen Rapp, director of communications, met her future husband. Since then, they have twice taken advantage of the opportunity to get 8 weeks of maternity leave. Their children attend the child development center from infancy. "You can go talk to your child at any time," Rapp says. “That’s why it was so easy for me to go to work after giving birth.”

LEIGH BUCHANAN, inc.com
Translation: Airapetova Olga

1. Don’t try to do everything

“It’s impossible to do everything everywhere” - in the race to better yourself, it’s so easy to forget about this fact. Accept it and learn to prioritize honestly. Would you prefer a trip to the zoo to a business lunch with partners? Don't blame yourself. Since you made such a choice, it means that at that very moment family was much more important to you.

If you feel like you’re working to the limit and tasks keep piling up, delegate them: an assistant will help you with your work, and a nanny, housekeeper, or one of your relatives can take on some of the household responsibilities.

2. Analyze how you spend your time

Try a little experiment: every half hour for a week, write down everything you spend your time on. Yes, yes, viewing your social media feed and talking on the phone also needs to be turned on! This list will definitely include activities that are not included in the top list of the most necessary, and even those that are not beneficial at all. Try to give up on them at least for a while and soon you will see: there are much more opportunities to perform truly important tasks.

3. Plan your affairs clearly

Make a plan for the week and plan every working day in accordance with it. This is especially important if you work at home rather than in an office, where the chances of distraction are especially high. Decide how many hours you plan to spend today at work and put a list of tasks in front of you for this time.

Try to schedule your days off for Saturday and Sunday, even if you work a flexible schedule. Your friends and family will enjoy spending your free time with you, and it will help you maintain rhythm and productivity without feeling like you're racing 24/7.

4. Don’t do work and personal things at the same time

Learn to completely relax and disconnect from work. Are you going to play football with your friends? Don't answer work calls. Are you going to the movies with your girlfriend? Please don't check your email for at least one evening. Your personal time is a time of absolute rest from work. Enjoy communication and try to spend these moments without your phone.

5. Value the time of your loved ones

Respect your family and friends as you respect your partners and colleagues. Treat your household responsibilities with the same care as your work tasks. By taking note of these simple rules, you will avoid quarrels, insults and misunderstandings, and in return you will receive many pleasant moments spent with your family. Decorating a Christmas tree with your parents, having breakfast with your wife in a cafe, picking up your son from training - our lives are made up of such priceless little things, and we definitely shouldn’t neglect them.

6. Take care of your health

Without harmony with yourself and your body, there can be no harmony with the world around you, so take care of yourself. Seeking a balance between work and personal life at the expense of your sleep and rest is not even pointless, but simply harmful. Be sure to get enough sleep, watch what you eat, find time for sports and spend more time outdoors, away from the computer. And don't forget about vacation!

Also, allow yourself to be a little lazy sometimes, at least 15 minutes a day. This is very useful for all of us!

7. Share experiences

Sometimes an outside perspective can help us see ourselves in a new way. Talk to colleagues, friends, family, share your observations with them and ask for advice. Surely among them there are those who have found their personal balance and will be happy to share their experience with you.

8. Find your “golden mean”

We are surrounded by many fictitious standards and standards, you can’t argue with that. But we must not forget that your life is your choice, and everyone has their own recipe for happiness. Listen to yourself and understand what is really important to you, and only in this way will you find personal harmony. We are sure that you will succeed!

Elena Agafonova, CEO Solution Management Group:

I think that first of all, leaders should consider how sincere they are in this intention. I often come across the fact that companies declare their readiness for this very balance of work and personal life, but in reality there is a harsh suppression of any manifestations of such a balance.

First of all, it is important to agree on concepts. What is work-life balance? Like this " balance» is it understood and implemented by the head of the company? It is very important. We all need bright examples from life. If a manager does not set an example of such a balance, it is difficult to expect employees to implement it.

Further. Which Should the interests of employees and the interests of the company coincide? It is advisable to outline these interests in great detail in the form of tasks with clear indicators and deadlines. And only the next step is to look for ways to achieve the goals.

After all, the concept of “balance” is very individual. For one employee, in order to fulfill the company’s tasks while maintaining his own interests, it is important to have a flexible schedule, the ability to work remotely at the time when he can be most effective, and to play sports during the day. Others, on the contrary, need to come to the office every day at a certain time and leave the workplace without stopping for a minute. And the thing is that you can’t come up with one “balance” for everyone! It seems to me that it is precisely in personification that most modern, still deeply hierarchical organizational structures, built on the principles of distrust and control, “slip.” You can often hear the following complaint from HR directors: “ We have already done everything for them: varied training, social packages, gifts for all holidays, and various special offers from partners, but they still leave. What else do you need?"I think I need individual approach . You need to be interested in the plans of employees, their goals in life, their current priorities.

The second aspect that I would highlight here is honesty. It’s no secret that many employers “tolerate” some employees not because their interests coincide, but simply because they are afraid to get rid of them. That is, an employee may have a complete balance of his own goals, but the company does not. This is especially true for highly professional employees and honored experts. The employer is simply afraid that such an employee will leave for a competitor, and that a new person will have to be trained long and hard to take his place. Such a “sacred cow” can cause irreparable harm to corporate culture by creating a precedent of suppression and “imbalance” of the company’s interests. Everyone sees that he or she is not useful, but at the same time receives undeserved benefits along with those who honestly perform tasks that are important for the company today. Although when you ask the direct question “What exactly will you lose if you fire this employee?”, no one can give clear answers, but they are in no hurry to make responsible decisions.

Elena Sardovskaya, HR director of the company " Microtest»:

The appropriate phrase here is “ everything ingenious is simple" I will highlight three key points:

• Avoid serious overtime for employees. Very questionable savings lead to rapid emotional burnout of the employee and a decrease in his productivity.
• If your office is located in a large city, and your activity does not require presence at the workplace at a strictly defined time, such as in banks or in production, then a sliding schedule provides just such a balance. The quality of employee work in this case is measured not by the hours “spent” in the office, but by the tasks completed.
• An employee will be more loyal if the company is interested in his hobbies and helps him realize them. For example: organizing sports teams, participating in competitions for those interested in sports; organizing photographic exhibitions for those who are interested in photography, and so on.

Irina Kolbukova, director of organizational development and personnel management of the company Orange Business Services in Russia and the CIS:

The employer must pay special attention to maintaining a balance between work and personal life. Even if an employee has a fairly intensive work schedule, the company must make sure that the employee has time to live a full life: spend enough time with family and friends, engage in favorite hobbies, and develop outside of work. There are times when some issues can be resolved individually between the employee, supervisor and HR manager, especially if a difficult or sensitive situation arises, such as family or health problems.

There are internal programs and procedures that apply to all company employees, for example, the ability to work remotely (at least one day a week) or with a fairly flexible schedule. That is, the employee works 8 hours a day, but the exact start time of work has not been established, since it is more convenient for some to come earlier to take their children to school, while for others it is more convenient to stay longer in the evening and, accordingly, come later in the morning. It rather concerns the convenience and comfort of work. In addition, the company should see in each employee not only a professional, but also a person with his own hobbies and interests. For example, our company has a special program at the global level Orange Passion, in which employees talk about their hobbies, interests, personal projects in different areas of life (sports, art, music, travel, etc.), and then we financially reward the owners of the most interesting hobbies.

• Firstly, it increases employee loyalty,
• secondly, it helps colleagues get to know each other better, find like-minded people and friends with similar interests.

An example of work-life balance, as well as excellent team-building activities, would be the joint participation of colleagues in sports events and sections (for example, creating a football team, holding ski competitions, etc.). The company must remember to encourage not only professional, but also personal achievements of employees.

Anna Reed, Evgenia Udalova(company HR team CUSTIS):

Nowadays, “personal life” means a lot: personal development, family, friends, hobbies... As they often say, this is “ everything that is not work" This separation between work and personal life is a recent development.

Until the mid-twentieth century, people mainly worked to earn a living. Work largely determined a person’s personality, his position in society and shaped his attitude towards him. In fact, a person was perceived primarily as a representative of his profession (doctor, barber, carpenter, worker), and his occupation could be easily determined by his appearance. And they started a family, focusing more on the business qualities of the future spouse (will they be able to feed the children, plow the field, keep the house in order) than on love and spiritual closeness.

In the late 50s and early 60s of the last century, a turning point occurred. Thanks to the development of production, the educational level of workers and employees increased sharply, and monetary incentives gradually ceased to play a key role in maintaining high levels of productivity. Now people wanted not only to work, but also enjoy work. We can say that at this time the “conflict” between work and personal life arose. A person began to divide his time between two spheres, and personal life began to acquire more and more value.

So, the modern employer faces a very difficult task: to ensure high labor productivity and make sure that employees are satisfied with what they do for 8 or more hours a day. The employer must convince the employee to give him the most valuable thing for a modern person - his time, energy and creativity.

The solution suggests itself: the employee must regard the time devoted to work as the time he devotes to his personal life. Is it possible?

In our company, the employee’s interest and degree of involvement into the work process and the meaningfulness of the activity. Moreover, this interest is not associated with financial reward, but with creative elements in solving work problems. This allows you to Job in the company was perceived by the employee as part of personal development, which means it became part of your personal life.

What happens if a company manages to achieve this effect? An employee starts going to work not for a salary, but because he is interested. We try to ensure that our specialists view work as a means of self-expression and self-realization, and do not tie them to monetary compensation for working a set number of hours. Of course, we create many opportunities for professional development. For example, employees attend all major conferences and seminars on our topics not only as listeners, but also as speakers. These are ADD, Req Labs, Software People, which are held in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv and other cities. We also provide platforms for gathering professional communities, so our specialists have the opportunity to communicate with colleagues from other companies, exchange experiences and ideas, practically without leaving their workplace.

The company organizes corporate and external training, creates conditions for the exchange of knowledge and experience, promotes the establishment of horizontal connections between different areas and project teams, thereby creating strong intra-corporate connections.

Another good example is internal seminars based on trainings and literature read. All company employees can come and listen to such a seminar. Our HR team also enjoys visiting them. Thanks to this approach to working with personnel, both the company itself and the employees benefit. After all, by doing everything to grow our staff, we end up with a team of professionals who can cope with any given task. And most importantly, our employees are interested in coming to work every day.

But personal life is not only about personal development. It's also about family, friends, hobbies and sports. We try to make sure that employees can devote as much time as possible to them. This may seem strange, but we don't think so. Our employees have all corporate-wide working time planning tools at their disposal.

The flexible work schedule adopted by the company allows each employee to optimally plan their day, because everyone has personal interests, hobbies and various issues that need to be resolved during the working day. With this approach, which combines the absence of a fixed presence at work and a focus on achieving results, you can choose the most convenient mode of work and accomplish everything that is planned.

We provide our specialists with the opportunity to work remotely, which allows us to kill two birds with one stone. Sometimes being present at home is necessary: ​​for example, an emergency situation has occurred and you are waiting for a specialist, a child is sick, or you simply don’t feel well. In such cases, of course, it is more convenient to stay at home and work as much as possible - the company treats this with understanding.

Our employees can plan their vacation quite flexibly: break it into parts, take one day at a time, or, conversely, go on a long vacation. In the latter case, naturally, it is necessary to agree on this possibility with the manager in advance so that the project team can plan its activities in the absence of a key specialist.

The company welcomes the presence of family members at corporate events. This also applies to the children of employees, for whom we prepare a special entertainment program. At the same time, several issues are resolved at once: there is no need to look for a person with whom you can leave the child, and negotiate with him for a certain time, and then rush back from the corporate party; the child is supervised and always nearby.

What else can help us as an employer achieve work-life balance for our staff and thereby allow our employees to concentrate on solving business problems?

Sporting events, voluntary health insurance, picnics, the opportunity to use an office driver (to pick up grandma from the airport), a good monitor (so that your eyes don’t hurt), New Year’s gifts for children...

At first glance, these may seem like small things. However, these little things make up the daily work of employees, thanks to them they can make a pleasant surprise for their loved ones or proudly say: “ I really enjoy working for this company!»

Rinat Shamilevich Sabitov, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Applied Psychology "Alpha" :

Balance is the balance of the physical body; It is very difficult to achieve in life, but it is worth striving for. “Humanizing” this term, I would apply the concept of psychological balance, somewhat different from the physics of bodies, that is, the optimal combination of two important spheres of human life: public and personal. And here we are not talking about some percentage - 50/50, 80/20, etc. An individual approach is important here - how each person determines the optimum for himself.

This depends on the social and economic well-being of the country where a person lives, and on the mentality of the nation to which he belongs, in a particular case - on the structure of his personal life, the psychological maturity of the person and many other factors. Distortions in one direction or another, a certain imbalance, are possible, but this should not become the norm.

Another important point is how a person psychologically perceives this kind of imbalance. The two most important areas of human fulfillment, social and personal, in a psychologically mature person are always balanced in the best way for him and society. Moreover, the area of ​​personal relationships is not only family, but also friends, hobbies, etc. In the case of an optimal combination, neither the person himself nor his social environment suffers. If a person manages to determine the condition of “equilibrium” between these areas, we can talk about his viability as an individual, his flexibility and ability to invest in one or another area in the event of situational imbalances. This allows you to be successful, live a high-quality and full life, and feel harmony within yourself.

In the case of a serious imbalance towards work, we can talk about dysfunction, since workaholism and many addictions have the same psychological nature. Despite the fact that dependence on work is traditionally approved and even encouraged by society, and addictions of other kinds are considered vices...

“Escape to work” from everyday life may be associated with the inability to experience the so-called “small joys of life”, the inability to provide oneself with the comfort of home. To rationalize workaholism, excuses such as material or work necessity, career requirements, etc. are used. Even the hobbies of workaholics are usually associated with the role of breadwinner. This includes gardening, hunting, fishing, etc. If a workaholic cannot realize himself at his main job, a hobby may become his only interest in life. For a workaholic, work is by no means one of the components of his life: it completely replaces affection, love, entertainment, and other types of activity.

What is the difference between an ordinary hardworking person and a workaholic? A hardworking person has a goal in front of him, the result of his work is important to him, for him professional activity is just a part of life, a way of self-expression, a means of self-sufficiency and creation of material wealth. For a workaholic, the opposite is true: the result of work has no meaning, work is a way to fill time, such a person is focused on the production process, and not on the result. Family relationships and the family itself are perceived by a workaholic as interference, distracting from work and causing irritation and annoyance. Workaholism is the same form of self-destruction as other addictions. It leads to overwork, lack of energy for other activities and a narrowing of interests. Workaholics have no time and are not interested in using the results of their work; they constantly sacrifice their own needs.

Torn away from his “drug” by vacation, illness, or retirement, the workaholic is bored, feels unnecessary and worthless. In retirement, he may develop psychosomatic disorders, and he changes his form of self-destruction - he becomes a hypochondriac, killing time in endless visits to doctors. Often the body gets involved in this game seriously, and the person quickly dies from diseases that appear as if out of nowhere...

Unfortunately, a workaholic influences other family members who do not receive emotional support from him, as a result of which his personal life also suffers.

In this situation, you should seek qualified help from a psychologist who will not only determine the cause and effect, but also teach you how to properly rest and recover for a future quality life, where there will be room not only for work, but also for loved ones, as well as spiritual and physical development.

How to find a balance between work and personal life: 6 tips for startups.

Everyday life of a startup, what are they like? The project not only does not bring in money, but also requires investment, and it is not yet clear whether it will work out or not. You have to allocate money for it from your own salary, hard earned in the office.
It turns out that you can only work on your project after an eight-hour working day, sometimes until midnight, and even take on part-time work, otherwise there is no other way. It is best to work on weekends, when there is no fatigue after a hard day at work. But what about the girl, wife (husband), children? They want your attention. And sometimes you just want to forget about everything, relax in nature, meet old friends.
What to do: plow, work for results, and the rest will wait, or can the problem be solved somehow differently? Is it possible to find the balance that will allow you to achieve success without losing your health and loved ones?
We offer you the opinions of project managers who have already gone through the thorns of a novice startup. I hope that among them you can find those that will help you.

Kirill Rozhkovsky

Let's start with the fact that for a (real) entrepreneur, his project is his personal life. Therefore, the boundaries here are very conditional and depend primarily on the circumstances and obligations in which a person finds himself. For example, for a family person, the balance must necessarily take into account time for the family. Which, in turn, depends on the real need of the wife/children for attention. Yes, here I mean the case when you value your family.
In addition to family, I include self-development in my personal life, that is, those procedures, actions (inactions, etc. - call it what you want) that, in fact, develop you as a person, “from the inside and the outside.”
It is my firm belief, confirmed by personal experience and observation of other people, that how things happen to us on the outside is shaped by who we are on the inside.
You can consider this my commitment to myself.
Project activities are obligations to other people. Since there is not much time in the day, they also have to be prioritized according to the “important, urgent” principle. Everything that remains in between is usually decided “in the flow.”
I want to add a very important thing about balance - there will always be more things to do than time. And, of course, doing everything won’t work. Even if you don't sleep, eat, etc.
Highlight the really important things, determine the minimum required and make them “have to do it” plus, if possible, a little more. Do the rest according to the “moment” - mood, inclination, urgency, interestingness, etc. And come to terms with the fact that you will almost always not have time to do something that is “unimportant, not urgent.”

Mikhail Minin

I think each of us (startup, founder, businessman, investor) would like to say that he has a work-life balance. But usually, of course, this is not the case. I am no exception and I think that I am far from some kind of balance.
Nevertheless, I am working on organizing it and, it seems to me, there is progress.
However, I cannot say that this balance should exist. At some point I chose that I wanted to have a personal life. Before this, I was calmly immersed only in work. If this is the case for you, I don’t think it’s a big problem, especially for a startup. Focus on your project and plow, plow, plow.
But at some level, an understanding arises that fixation begins to lead to blurred vision, for example, or some other negativity. And then, I think, you need to start looking for that same balance, or at least your personal life.
I organize the balance simply. If my wife calls me somewhere, then we go there. At the same time, I leave my work schedule on weekdays irregular. I try to relax on weekends, but I don’t see anything wrong with working for a while.

Oleg Cherevaty

To be honest, when you work on a project for a long time, you no longer clearly separate work and personal life. Even reading news and books, you capture ideas that can be applied in the future.
And the best way to disconnect from work is to spend time with your family. An active walk with a child and a dog - there is no time to think about work. And of course, we should not forget that everything is in our hands and head. If I have discomfort on the work or personal front, I try to catch the moment when my consciousness is looking for an excuse for the situation. Instead, I clearly understand what needs to be changed and where to start.
I repeat once again that everything is in our hands and heads.
And a whole set of tools helps me organize my time: Google calendar (planning + reminders), Google Docs. I definitely use Yaware to control the time spent on the computer - mainly when the working day goes well beyond 8 hours and it’s time to tell myself “stop”.

Ksenia Kostina

Owning your own business, on the one hand, provides more opportunities to maintain a balance between work and personal life, and on the other hand, creates many temptations. Some people sleep until 12 or even go to Thailand to “manage the business” from there, others throw themselves into work “with their heads,” forgetting about everything else.
For me, if a business owner or top manager sits in the office until 11 pm, this does not mean that he works a lot, but on the contrary, it shows that he is not able to properly organize his work. Well, or simply no one is waiting for him at home.
The birth of my daughter gave me a lot of discipline - before my first pregnancy, I worked until 10 pm if my husband also had business that evening. Now, I simply cannot afford it - my working day lasts 8-9 hours, and coming home is planned in my schedule just like other things, and I try not to be late for a meeting with my family. Peter Drucker, by the way, writes a lot about the fact that personal time and family time need to be planned just like work meetings and conferences, and there is nothing good in neglecting promises made to loved ones.
Following his advice, I simply took for granted the fact that a walk with my spouse or reading a book to my daughter is no less important than a business meeting.
Oddly enough, I began to get more done - before my first pregnancy I had one business, now I have 2 operating companies and 2 startups, despite the fact that we are expecting our second daughter in September.
Of course, sometimes panic comes over me, and it seems that I don’t have time to do anything and take on too much. Then I remember the good advice to “cut the crap” and re-evaluate where I spend my time, getting rid of anything that is a time waster or that can be outsourced.
In general, it is not difficult for me to maintain a family/work balance, since I am happy in my family life and do what I love. As they say, happiness is when you are happy to go to work in the morning, and happy to go home in the evening.

Ivan Plastun, co-founder

In my opinion, the main art in the matter of combining work in a startup project and a normal personal life is the ability to find reasonable compromises.
If you've watched at least one James Bond movie, you know the end of the recipe for the British special agent's favorite cocktail: shaken, but not stirred. Do the same with your work and personal life - they, of course, will come into contact, but one of the parties cannot greatly influence the other, otherwise every morning after such a “cocktail” you will get up with an inevitable headache.
Feel free to share your work successes with your loved ones or seek support during difficult times. But at the same time, do not allow inevitable work problems and conflicts to be transferred to friends and family. From this, your funnel of negativity will only grow wider and happily absorb another side of your life. The situation is similar in the opposite case - I don’t think that the productivity and morale of your colleagues will increase if you argue with one of your friends or relatives on the phone all day.
I believe that you should always do business in your life, but you should not turn business into your life. In the process of work, many people lose the ability to rest, relax in the company of friends, just enjoy a movie and not frantically check their email every five minutes. At such moments, it is worth asking yourself the question: is this really why I started my business?

Egor Egerev

Work-life balance is a particularly difficult issue for me because both my wife and I are running our own businesses at the same time. A year ago, I opened a service for selling electronic tickets for concerts and other events. My wife is developing the Good Impulse mutual aid service. It’s very difficult not to talk about work at home; we both almost live on our projects at times.
Our way out is short periods when we “disconnect” from work issues completely. For example, we are going on a short hike in the Moscow region, pitching tents in the forest, arranging camp life, waiting for the moment when our mobile phones run out and we have the opportunity to simply forget about all everyday work issues for a while.
Even a couple of hours or half a day of disconnection from the work world allows you to reboot your brain and find new strength. If you manage to spend a whole weekend like this, then the feeling of being reborn is guaranteed.