One observation I have made of small business owners is that they generally struggle with the notion of rewarding themselves, often associating reward with purely financial considerations. Associated with all the changes we are talking about there can be more than a little turmoil in the short term before greater balance kicks in. This is normal, but the turmoil can be disconcerting, and we need to give ourselves some rewards along the way.
I suggest making a list (yes, I know, yet another list!) of things you consider to be rewards. Some may be material objects, others may be more symbolic. This doesn’t matter— what does matter is that they are things you really like and want.
Add these rewards to the list of changes required to achieve your balance, at strategic places—so that when you change this habit, you get that reward. For example, your list might say that for one week you are not going to stay at work later than 6 p.m., no matter what. If you achieve this, your pay-off is to buy yourself a new fishing rod. Or, if you commit to going to the gym twice a week and you do it for a month without fail, you get to have a night out at your favorite restaurant. But you must make the change before you claim the reward.
This is part of the reprogramming process that you need to undertake. There are many names for ‘reprogramming’, and many ways to go about it, but it does work. We need to be rewarded—whatever that means to us individually—to really feel that what we are doing is worthwhile.
