67% of Small Business Owners Say Their Personal Lives Are Affected by Work. Here's How to Strike a Better Balance

When you own a small business, it's hard to separate your work life from your personal life. That's because your business is a big part of your life in general. And also, chances are, you spend a lot of time not only working on business-related matters, but thinking about them, whether it's during your morning shower, your afternoon run, or your pre-bedtime routine.

Not so shockingly, Truist's Small Business Pulse Survey reveals that 67% of small business owners are seeing their personal lives impacted by work. Many are reporting increased levels of stress and are having trouble sleeping. And a lot of small business owners are spending less time on self-care and are struggling to maintain close relationships due to the demands and stress of their work.

If you're having a hard time separating your work life with your personal life, then it's important to make some changes as soon as possible. Otherwise, you might risk upending your personal life and causing yourself undue misery.

It's all about separation

Just as it's important to have a bank account you use solely for personal expenses and a separate small business bank account that's strictly for company expenses, so too is it important to separate your work self from your personal self in general. And while that may not be the easiest thing to do, it's necessary.

First, set time-related boundaries. Map out a schedule that determines which hours you'll be working during the week and which hours you'll be spending time with your friends and family, tending to your health, and decompressing. And then stick to that schedule.

It's okay to build in 30 minutes in the evening to check work emails or return calls. But beyond that, you need to push yourself to unplug.

Next, if possible, try not to bring work home with you if you maintain an outside office (if you work from home, clearly, this is harder to do). That will only make it more likely that you'll end up doing work when you're not supposed to be.

Furthermore, try your best to create a mental separation between work life and home life. If you're married, you may decide that you're allowed to spend your first 20 minutes each evening talking about work with your spouse or venting about things that aren't going so well. But at some point, you need to stop talking and thinking about work, and start focusing your energy on other things. That could mean sitting down with your spouse to look at swatches for the living room couch you've been planning to buy or turning off your brain with a great Netflix series.

Don't resign yourself to a lack of balance

It's tricky to strike a good work-life balance when you own a business. But it's an important thing to try to do.

Once you get better about setting boundaries, you may find that your mental health improves on a whole. And from there, you might have more energy to tackle the many challenges that come with running a company.