5 ways to overcome the entrepreneurial dilemma with Randi Zuckerberg

Randi Zuckerberg is a businesswoman who marches to the beat of her own drum.

As a serial entrepreneur, NYTimes best selling author of Dot Complicated, speaker, television host and producer, and founder & CEO of Zuckerberg Media, one skill-set Randi had to learn was time management.

Below, Zuckerberg outlines five tips professionals should follow to overcome the entrepreneurial dilemma of work-life balance.

For the full interview and more discussion, check out the above episode of #BizChats. 

1. Choose your three major focuses of the day: work, family, friends, fitness, sleep, etc. 

"You get three of those, you can pick a different three tomorrow. The goal is for it to balance out over the long run, not to try to do all those five things everyday."

2. Stave off the urge to do tasks outside of those three choices (save it for another day when you can enjoy it)

"Once you pick your three, stick with it. Don't say, 'alright I'm going to try and sneak in in this fourth or fifth [activity].' Do those three things really, really well. If you didn't choose fitness that day, don't beat yourself up. Don't try to squeeze in a 5-mile run. Save it for another day when you can enjoy it and you can do a great job."

3. Hold yourself accountable by tweeting your choices or sharing them to friends

"If you don't think you're the kind of person that can hold yourself accountable to picking three things and sticking with it, bring other people in on the action. Get social! You can text your friends and share with them your three things you picked that day. You can tweet it, you can post it on Facebook, have other people help you be accountable for picking three. "I also like to say, instead of creating a really daunting 'to-do' list of things that you have to do that day that are weighing over your head, make a 'ta-da list' of the things you accomplished that day that you can feel proud of at the end of the day."

4. Keep a journal or calendar of your choices so you can see how your month balanced out

"Just like if you're trying to watch your nutrition, the biggest advice is to keep a journal of what you're eating so you can see what you chose. Keep a journal of which three [activities] you picked. Again, work, sleep, family, friends, fitness, you get to pick three. You want to make sure you're balancing out over the long run, but it's okay if you pick the same three over and over again for a short time. We're entrepreneurs, we're busy, sometimes you've got to focus and drill down, but write it down to make sure you're not letting anything in your life go by the wayside."

5. Profit financially, physically and emotionally

"If you give yourself that permission to really focus, first of all, what you're going to find is that you're going to be so much more productive, you're going to be happier, and I know in my own personal life and my professional life, I don't think I've ever accomplished anything I was truly proud of when I felt like I was just balancing everything really well. It was when I really deep dove into one area and was really focused and I felt like I accomplished anything I was really proud of. So that's why I think the new reality of being an entrepreneur (especially for those of us who are parents too) is that you have to maybe be a little more lopsided instead of balanced and it's okay as long as it shifts back and fourth."