People from Generation X may remember the days when our parents came home at 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday and always had weekends off. Whether that was true for your family or not, we can all agree that times have certainly changed. Work follows us home now well into the evenings, and weekends don’t seem as relaxing as they once were. What happened? Well, a lot of things have changed in American society since the 1980s and 90s, but one factor is that we went online. Email, personal computers, texting, and the Internet have all made it much easier for us to stay connected to work and much harder to disconnect from it. As a result, our jobs infringe more on our time even when we are at home. Below, you will find some suggestions from successful entrepreneurs for how to reclaim your work-life balance. 

Make quality time be true quality time

When was the last time you truly sat down and connected with your family without answering a text message or stepping out to make a call? Do you really let yourself sit down for 30 minutes to just read a book, or do you frequently postpone reading in order to do something more pressing? Many of us have one foot in relaxation and one foot in work, and that leads to burnout and relationship issues. So, be sure to go all in when you sit down to play a game with your spouse and children and to be fully present for them.

Schedule in time for exercise each day

Yes, we know – it is very difficult to find the motivation or time to run or shoot some hoops when there are a million other demands on our time already. Remember this, however: exercise is both an excellent stress reliever as well as a crucial way to keep our bodies healthy. When you are younger, jacking up your heart rate can seem optional, but as you move into your 40s and 50s and beyond, you will quickly realize how critical it is to make time to exercise no matter how busy you may be.

Stop reacting to emails, phone calls, and text messages

Life never stops. There will always be another problem at work, and someone else will always need your input on something. Ask yourself this: will the world really end if you do not answer a text message until tomorrow? What if you don’t check your emails until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow instead of looking through them tonight? To have a healthy work/life balance, stop reacting to messages and choose to not look at or answer them. Let them be until the next day. 

Explore the world without your phone or computer

Believe it or not, there really was a time not so long ago when we were not plugged in. Why not simply turn off your computer and phone and take a stroll through your neighborhood? You will likely see a ton of people who are on their phones, but you don’t have to be one of them. What will you discover about yourself and life by just experiencing your community through your own eyes and not technology?

Draw inviolable boundaries around what is most important in your life

Work will always matter, of course, but there is more to you than what you do for a living. What are some of the hobbies you enjoy doing? When was the last time you did them? Making time each week to paint, work with tools, or something else may have nothing to do with your job, but isn’t that the point? Carve out time each week to reconnect with who you are away from the office.

Embrace small changes

Most of us know when we are working too hard and allowing our jobs to bleed over into our personal time. Some of us will try to make drastic changes, such as cutting our work hours in half, and we will probably fail. Instead, shoot for something smaller, like being home on Tuesday nights at 5:30 p.m. instead of 11:00 p.m. You can more easily plan for a change like this and look forward to it all week, as can your family.

One last suggestion for creating a healthy work-life balance

Your ability to draw a firm boundary between the office and your personal life will only be as strong as your commitment to change. So, remember to focus on why you want to improve that separation. Better health? Stronger relationships? More time to yourself? Then keep that at the forefront so that you can follow through and build a new life for yourself.