One of the first questions I ask business owners is, “Why did you go into business in the first place?” The answer is often about achieving freedom — the freedom to spend more time with family or pursue a passion outside of work.

My follow-up question is, “How is that working out for you?” Often, the answer is that it isn’t.  They feel work has taken over their lives, and they need help restoring the balance between work & home.

Just last week, I had this exact conversation with a business owner who, after a successful but intense 15 months, found the business was consuming his life and which was adversely impacting on the relationship with his partner and two young children. He was seeking practical steps to better separate work from his personal life.

In response, we developed two actionable changes:

1. Use two mobile phones: He will carry two mobile phones — one strictly for work purposes and the other exclusively for personal use. At the end of each workday, he will leave the work phone behind. Only close family and friends will have the number of the personal phone.
2. Reserve work attire for the office: He decided to wear casual clothes when commuting between home and the office. He will only wear work attire at the office.  This physical transition helps him signal the boundary between his personal and work roles.

While these two shifts alone will not fully restore balance in his life, they represent a positive first step on the journey to strengthen the relationships at home.