Thriving as a Father and Entrepreneur

Can you really thrive as both a dedicated father and a driven entrepreneur? Discover the surprising strategies that can help you achieve this elusive balance. Join me, Chris Anderson, on this episode of the Elevate Media Podcast where we explore the art of juggling family and business without dropping the ball. Learn about the Eisenhower Matrix, a powerful tool for prioritizing tasks based on urgency and importance, enabling you to focus on what truly matters. We'll break down each category of the matrix to show you how to delegate, eliminate, and concentrate on tasks that drive your personal and professional success.

Setting boundaries and clear communication are key topics we'll cover, emphasizing the importance of scheduling dedicated time for both family and business. Find out how tools like Google Calendar, Trello, and Monday can help keep your life organized and harmonious. By establishing clear work hours and ensuring everyone in your family and team is on the same page, you can be fully present in each role. Tune in to gain practical tips and actionable insights that will elevate both your personal and professional life.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Elevate Media Podcast with your host, chris Anderson. In this show, chris and his guests will share their knowledge and experience on how to go from zero to successful entrepreneur. They have built their businesses from scratch and are now ready to give back to those who are just starting. Let's get ready to learn, grow and elevate our businesses. And now your host, chris Anderson.

Speaker 2: 0:24

Ever felt like you're juggling too many balls, trying to be a successful dad and off career? Well, in this episode, I'm going to show you the secrets how you can do both without dropping the ball. Welcome back to another episode of the Elevate Media Podcast. I'm Chris Anderson, your host Today. Again, I'm going to be diving into how to find some harmony with fatherhood and entrepreneurship. So, as fathers, you know, we have the dual responsibility of nurturing our families and growing our businesses. In this episode, I'll be sharing strategies and tips to help you navigate these two important roles successfully.

Speaker 2: 0:59

Now let's start with time management. This is one of the effective strategies that you can do for time management. It's called the Eisenhower Matrix. This helps us prioritize tasks based on their urgency and importance. This way, you can focus on what truly matters and avoid getting bogged down by less critical tasks. So the Eisenhower Matrix is composed of four boxes and when you're looking at them, if you look at the bottom left, this is the section that is urgent but not important. So the items in this box are things that you can delegate, that you can hand off to someone else to get done because maybe they have skill set. That's better, they have the time or they had the ability to get it done, but it's not important for you to do. It's still urgent task. So someone needs to do it. It's just not. It doesn't have to fall on your shoulders. And if you go over to the right on the right bottom side, you're going to have not urgent and not important. If it's not urgent and it's not important, get rid of it. It's something that doesn't matter. It's not urgent and it's not important. Get rid of it. It's something that doesn't matter. It's not moving the needle forward in your relationship with your family or in your business, so it's just a shiny object that you thought could be useful, but it's not.

Speaker 2: 2:13

Then we go one above that to the top right. This is the not urgent but also important section. So these are things that you personally need to get done, but they're not super urgent, they're not time crunched, you know, so you can schedule them out in the future. But if you go over to the top left, these are the urgent and important tasks. These are the things you have to focus on first and get done, and things that you personally have to take responsibility for and get done. So use this matrix. It will help you kind of narrow down what really really really has to be done by you, by others, or what you can just get rid of to free up some time.

Speaker 2: 2:54

Another key point is scheduling dedicated time for both family and business, although this can seem tough because you have emails constantly coming in, tasks that have to be done, family things that you want to be a part of. This is why it's so crucial to have this dedicated time set aside for each, this separation. It really helps you be fully present in each role. So when you're setting certain times for business and your family is aware like, hey, that has to be business time, that way you know family time. I can be fully present there. That's why it's so important to dedicate these time blocks to each thing or different things, especially if you add in health and like workouts and things like that as well. So communication with your family, of course, is key, so they're aware of things.

Speaker 2: 3:37

But also tools and apps can be very beneficial to use. You know Google calendars, the easy one. There's things like Trello or Monday. They can be incredibly helpful in organizing your schedule and keeping you on track with what has to be done and when, because it's crucial to having this harmony and it's boundaries. Boundaries are essential to creating clear work hours that allow you to stick to them and that everyone's aware of. Again, communicate this with your family and with your team. If you have a team, so everyone knows when you're working and when you're available to give aid or assistance, and if you have a designated workspace, this can also help minimize distractions and signal to others that you're in work mode. This boundary can significantly improve your productivity and focus. It's good to separate both, so you know for me when I'm in my office. When I'm down working in my office, my family knows like that's I'm focused there, and when I come upstairs, I try to keep it separate and just be with family. So delegating and outsourcing tasks is another critical component. Identify tasks that can be handed off to others. This frees up your time so you can focus on those urgent and important activities that we mentioned in the Eisenhower matrix. You got to find reliable help, whether that's a virtual assistant or bringing on a team member. These can make huge differences and manage your workload effectively, and I've also found that learning from others' experiences can be incredibly valuable.

Speaker 2: 5:10

I've interviewed multiple successful father entrepreneurs who share their own strategies for balancing family and businesses. One common theme is the importance of involving your family in your business journey, making them feel a part of your success, and that's what I'm trying to do. Obviously, my kids right now are young, so they can't do a whole lot, but when they're older I want them to be more a part of that. I want my wife to be more a part of it as we continue down this journey. So those are big things because, again, it's harmony.

Speaker 2: 5:39

It's not a balance. If you can find a way to fit it all together and have harmony, have them a part of things, it's going to be more enjoyable, you're going to see the benefits and it's just going to make things less stressful. So, to wrap up, harmonizing fatherhood and entrepreneurship can be challenging, but it's achievable with the right strategies and tools. So prioritize your time, set clear boundaries, delegate tasks and learn from others' experiences. Remember it's all about making intentional choices that align with your goals and values. Thanks again for tuning into this episode. If you found this helpful, please share with someone else who might be a father trying to start a business or who has a business that they can benefit from it as well. Until next time, continue to go out there, elevate your lives, elevate your businesses and we'll talk to you again soon.

Speaker 1: 6:27

Thank you for listening to the Elevate Media Podcast. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. See you in the next episode.