My kids bought me a Superwoman t-shirt a few years ago. I like wearing it, as most days I do feel like Superwoman with all the tasks I’m juggling. But I came to a stark conclusion recently: I am NOT Superwoman. This wasn’t an attempt to bring myself down and be negative, but rather it was a reality check that revealed I really couldn’t sustain effectively everything I was doing.

I am a typical business owner with entrepreneurial traits: that is, I cannot stop my mind from coming up with new ideas or new ways to do things. It can be hard to filter or prioritise those ideas and work out what to focus on. I am coming to the realisation that because I am not Superwoman and do have a finite number of hours in the day, I am not able to progress every idea I come up with, no matter how good it is!

The process of working out where to focus my time now involves asking myself questions such as:

-       is this new idea going to impact negatively on my core business?

-       am I prepared for the additional time and energy it will take to progress this idea?

-       will my ‘outside work’ commitments (including family) be negatively affected? Will I be sacrificing time with those people and/or activities?

-       is it important enough to make the commitments and changes that will be required?

Sometimes answering the above questions will result in a resounding ‘yes’ and a new idea will flourish. But other times, I know I need to be prepared to let other commitments take priority and let a good idea lay dormant for a while longer. 

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender

As a woman in business, you have probably seen the latest television advertisements for the company AAMI. The premise of the light-hearted scenario is that “small business owners never switch off”.

I found myself agreeing somewhat: if you are anything like me, you are always thinking of ideas and your business is never far from your mind. Inspiration can strike at the oddest of times and often occurrences and experiences outside of your work time can prove to be useful to your business (in a variety of ways).

However, the more I see these advertisements, the sadder I become. The dad who is speaking to a client on the phone in his van, while he watches his son’s AFL game, is cheating himself and his son. He is watching the game, but he is not fully present. And I am certain that this would not go unnoticed by his son. Spending quality time with friends and family (and particularly children) means not being distracted and focussing fully on them.

Although business owners should be passionate about their business - and there will always be times when urgencies, deadlines and crises mean that the business ‘comes first’ - we also need to switch off. Children grow up quickly, friendships need regular input and life in general passes by all too quickly. We need to invest time in the things that are important.

Switching off is also important for your business. If you are never, or seldom, taking time to refresh and regenerate, your business will become stale. You will miss opportunities, increase stress levels, decrease motivation and find it difficult to negotiate your way through difficult periods. Do yourself, your family and your business a huge favour: schedule daily, weekly, quarterly and yearly times where you truly “switch off” from business.

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender