Introverted Entrepreneurs: Series 1 Part 3 - Work/Life Balancing Act

Striking a balance between your personal life and running a business non-stop, taking huge risks at what seems like the spur of the moment, and tapping away at your phone can be taxing. Life happens outside of the daily hustle whether we want it to or not. This post is for introverted entrepreneurs that want to enhance their relationships with their peers, significant others, and colleagues.

I was inspired to write a specific post in a different direction regarding this topic after featuring a fellow #bossbabe and blogger Kayla Moore in my Feature Tuesday weekly post. She wrote a wonderful post about 10 Things You Need To Understand Before Dating An Entrepreneur. She really makes a good point about things to fathom before even attempting to enter the dating world with an entrepreneur.

As I'm writing this post, I'm multitasking between manually pinning on Pinterest, Re-tweeting on Twitter, and scheduling on Tailwind on my phone. I'm also backlinking as I write this, as well as creating tonight's art club worksheet, and interpreting my daily analytical data to make better strategic decisions. Do I communicate any of this to my significant other? What about my best friend who texted me a few days ago? Well not exactly, they know that I've been working a lot. I don't want to over communicate to someone, then again it might not be over communicating. To compensate, I end up overthinking about it and then never getting to the point that I was trying to make.

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Communication

Communication is more than just exchanging words back and forth. How you say those words, what body language you are using, and the tone that you express the words it is just as important as the words.

How much is too much or too little? What one person thinks is adequate might be unsatisfactory for another. I recently read a really good book called The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts that helped me to understand better that not everyone interprets what you are doing the same way as how you are intending for it to come across.

Its difficult sometimes for introverted entrepreneurs to find the off switch once they get home. Its important to not leave your loved ones in the dark and wondering what's going on constantly though. Dynamically, your peers and significant other might be used to either receiving a quick response text back or a long lag before you take a minute to switch over into life mode. The thought of even addressing this seems self-explanatory but keep reading.

Solutions:

Significant Other - Have a conversation with them regarding what each others' language of love is. I know sappy right? Its actually very emotionally intelligent to know this though. Let the other person talk first and just listen. Actively listening means that you aren't just waiting for the other person to finish what they are saying. When it is your turn take a minute to let what they just said absorb then ask questions to clarify what they meant. When it is your turn again to speak ask them to do the same before you start.

Peers -  To find out your communication style to better relate to your peers, I found a quiz that helps to explain this better. My result concluded that I'm an intuitive communicator which is exactly correct! It will also tell you why you might get annoyed occasionally at people you are friends with.

Penguin theory

Supposedly once a penguin finds someone that they can't live without they do not deviate from this. These animals will even cross great lengths to return to this chosen one. They chitchat often to the other penguin in their own language, admire the view together side by side, and share responsibilities such as parenting and looking out for each other. Even though they will never fly, they still let each other grow and change their relationship.

Solution: Entrepreneurs have a difficult time finding the "off" switch. Like I tell my significant other, "I'm all business". Being an introvert myself, I would rather do things first and then talk about them.

If that involves plowing ahead and doing it yourself rather than waiting to include the other person, they may be rather put off.

Realizing this and adapting to how others do things is a different story. This dynamic is interesting as introverts commonly hate the chitchat banter getting to the point with a solution when they are talking to one another. I would like to think that we are much more advanced and able to regulate more quickly compared to an animal that simply cannot as they are endangered and over half of the species are facing extinction.

Dynamics

This is when you're peers and/or significant other are also good team members. If you were stranded on an island and needed to band together to figure out how to create a raft, it wouldn't take much time for you and this other other person to pool your thoughts and get things going. When push comes to shove introverts know when to shed their shell and appear out of nowhere. Just make sure that others' are aware of this.

I know a few introverts that will never in a million years admit that they are secretly a turtle in hiding. Being aware of this and being aware that others are aware of this are important. Someone might take it the wrong way and bridges burn quickly if a communication procedure is not eradicated within your personal life.

Have you ever felt as if someone you are close with is using work as a crutch to avoid you?

When you are in an introvert's person inner circle this is not the case!

They simply are working way more hours than you can imagine in addition to not effectively communicating that they are working these long hauls. I've been accused of x,y,and sometimes z, prior to reassuring my loved ones that I've just been busy. This can be a common pitfall of introverted business owners though, you don't want this idea to enter into the mind of someone that you love before they start to place a label on it making the trust levels deplete beyond recovery.

Solutions:

Significant Other - Schedule a weekly TV or Netflix or Amazon video show to watch together or something similar! Entrepreneurs have busy schedules, however, this may be a relationship saver that is easily overlooked. Being an introvert doesn't mean that we don't get lonely sometimes too, it just means that we don't express ourselves to just anyone and if the significant other is closing up then the introverted counterpart closes up even further creating a dangerous canyon that you both want to avoid. Introverts also do vitally need alone time every day in order to regroup and recharge. This alone time should not be taken as an insult or attacked. Having a show to watch with your significant other gives you something to both talk about other than your career and it might end up turning out to be a good series that you look forward to.

Peers - Plan a bi-weekly or monthly lunch outing with those that are closest to your inner circle. They will be glad to see you again and you'll have something to chit-chat about when you get back to work. This will open doors for enhanced creativity as well as further opportunities you didn't know existed.