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Being Self-Employed Is A 24/7 Job - So How Do You Switch Off? - Philip Voice
- 29 October 2014
When it came to switching off from work I was (and still am to a degree) on the of the world's worst. Having been self-employed from the age of nineteen, I don't really know how someone who is employed approaches their work/life balance.
Speaking from experience, there is always something to think about; Like getting the payroll done, making sure that funds are available to pay the VAT or ensuring that work vehicles are serviced and that MOT'd at the right time - these, of course, are just a tiny snippet of the kind of things that you have to do when you are self-employed and/or employ others.
Sure there are scheduling solutions now - I had to rely mainly on a diary back then and the page didn't jump out of the book and shout 'meeting at 9.00am'.
One of my biggest weaknesses was when we were about to start a landscape construction job.
On top of the daily routine I'd find myself laying in bed at 3.00am, wide awake thinking about how to tackle the upcoming job or trying to solve a problem that we'd encountered.
In my mind I'd be setting out, delivering materials, excavating for patios or putting up a fence, for example.
You can imagine, by the following morning I'd be mentally tired, and that's before the intensity of the day had even begun. It's debilitating to say the least.
A common problem
I know I am not alone and that many of my peers suffer with the same problem.
Darren recently shared his thoughts and asked others how they rested their brain?
Darren said: "I am constantly thinking about work. Be it looking at someone's lawn as we drive past, wondering when I can fix one of my mowers, reading LJN posts, thinking about finance and the future etc.
"These are all things going through my mind during the day obviously, but also when I am at home, or with my wife or lying in bed. I even dream about work frequently.
"I do partially switch off if, on the rare occasion, we go to the cinema. But as soon as we come out I'm looking at the grounds, surrounding shrubs, thinking about gritting etc."
Have a read of the replies and see what you make of other people's solutions.
After starting my garden maintenance and landscaping business in 1984 and running it for 21 years I decided I needed a change of direction (probably a mid life crisis, no seriously! :-0) Together with my family, wife Donna, Son Henry and Daughter Fleur (not forgetting Hector the Black Labrador) I moved to France in search of an old farmhouse to renovate. In the interim period whilst waiting for the contract to go through I started writing a blog. Initially just to keep a diary for family and friends to keep up with our progress if they wished but then it occurred to me that there isn't a real time watcher of the landscape industry in the UK. I didn't want to waste my experience and experiences so I decided I could put all of this Juice to good use so I started Landscape Juice.
