Small Business Tune-Up Hour 2: Work Pace & Balance

The 9 Hour Small Business Tune-Up – Hour 2

This part of the Tune-Up covers three things. First, how to use your emotions to push through tasks you’re avoiding. Second, how to spot your natural work pace. Third, how to balance your business with the rest of your life. It’s written for small business owners who want short, practical exercises they can do right now.

Workflow

Emotions play a big part in the actions we take. Researchers who study motivation have long noted that emotions push us toward some actions and pull us away from others.

Aren’t you driven toward feelings of desire, love, comfort, happiness, excitement, and satisfaction? In the same way, aren’t you pushed away from feelings of fear, panic, pain, unhappiness, and aggravation?

If you want to complete a job that you hate doing, then you need to alter your thinking about it. Think of all the benefits that will result from completing it. Remember all the undesirable consequences of not completing it. Keep in mind that by exaggerating and intensifying your feelings, you can make your actions stronger and more effective.

Consider the following statements, representing how intensifying our emotions can have a proportionate effect on the actions we take:

Statement One:
If I have just one more cigarette, I will have a heart attack and die. My children will grow up without a father; they will have no one to care for and guide them. Their lives will be drastically hampered, and it will be my selfishness that caused it.

Statement Two:
I should quit smoking because it’s bad for my health.

Can you see how Statement One would be more effective in helping a smoker quit than Statement Two would?

This isn’t just a writing trick. In a 1979 paper, researchers Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky found that people feel a loss about twice as strongly as they feel an equivalent gain, a pattern known as loss aversion. That’s part of why Statement One, which frames failure as a real loss, is likely to move you more than Statement Two, which just states a fact.

Below is another example of how you can alter your thinking to do something you really don’t want to do:

I hate learning new business techniques. It’s difficult, boring, and exhausting!

Now let’s relate the above statement to a bad outcome:

If I don’t learn new techniques in my business, then:

My competition could put me out of business, and I won’t even see it coming.
I won’t have a business, and I’ll have to look for a job.
I’ll be out of business, and my family and friends will know that I have failed.
My customers will leave, and I’ll have to look for new ones.
It will take thousands of dollars and years of my life to rebuild the business.
Without my business, I’ll never have a satisfying income. I won’t be able to pay my bills or do the things I want.

Now let’s relate the same statement to a good outcome:

If I learn new techniques in my business then:

The closer I am to becoming an expert, the more techniques I learn and apply to my business.
I’ll stay sharp and keep learning new things.
I will be able to make more money with less work.
I will have more options for choosing the direction of my life.
I will harness my good ideas and get rich from them.

Exercise 1: Using Emotions to Intensify Your Actions:

Using the examples above, create your own list of good and bad outcomes related to a job you hate doing. By using this exercise to associate strong emotions with the task, you will be able to feel differently the next time you perform it.

Setting Your Work Pace:

Some people get bored working on one task at a time and can’t stay focused. They prefer to work on many things at once. Others work better by concentrating on only one job. They like to set aside everything else until the current job is completed.

This matters because switching between tasks has a real cost. A 2001 study published in the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Experimental Psychology found that the mental blocks created by shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40% of your productive time. Knowing your natural pace, and sticking to it, pays off.

How do you best perform? Take a minute to think back to previous jobs. Did you perform better juggling many tasks at once, or working on just one thing at a time?

Exercise 2: Determining Your Work Pace:

List the most productive projects you have ever completed.

How did you complete the above projects?

1. I focused solely on that project.
2. I worked on that project in conjunction with several other projects.

If You Selected Number 1:

You work best when doing one task at a time. You should set up your work so you’re able to fully concentrate and avoid distractions. Clear your workspace of anything that may distract you.

If possible, eliminate all distractions, and don’t think about anything but the job at hand. Allow yourself a specific amount of time to work on the project and do nothing else until the job is complete.

Sometimes you might encounter jobs that take days, months, or even years to complete. Since it is impossible to put everything else aside and concentrate on one job, divide the tasks into manageable steps. Complete each step before moving to something else.

If You Selected Number 2:

You work better with many jobs going on at once. You can get bored working on one project at a time.

Perhaps the different things on your mind help fuel your creativity. Plan to work on several projects at once.

You may do one job for a couple of hours, move on to the next task, and come back to the first one later on.

Balancing Work and Play:

Now that you understand your pace, use it to handle your next day at work. List all the jobs that need to be done, and plan how you will approach each task with this new awareness.

To achieve and maintain a successful business, you must balance your personal and business life. Success at the expense of your friends, spouse, children, health, and ethics isn’t real success. Neither is a pleasant social life paired with a failing business. Achieve a balance between work and play, and you will find yourself happier and more productive.

This balance is worth fighting for. A 2026 small business survey found that most owners have personally sacrificed their health, relationships, or wellbeing for their business at some point, and poor work-life balance is one of the most commonly reported struggles owners face. You don’t have to be part of that pattern.

Priorities are essential to managing our daily lives. Even time spent achieving something can be a loss if it means failing to do something more meaningful. We know how vital priorities are, but how do you find out what’s important to you? You have to know your goal.

The following exercise will help you realize what is really important to you and set your priorities.

Setting Priorities:

Close your eyes, and imagine you have to quit your business right now — that it’s all over. As you get ready to leave your office, take a few minutes to reflect on the time you spent here, from the first day you had the idea until this very minute.

Do you remember your successes and failures?

Now answer the following questions:

1. What have you neglected in your business?

2. Did you run things as you wanted? If you did, skip ahead to question 3. If not, answer the following questions:

2a. Why not?

2b. What’s been the one most important thing that held you back?

2c. What could you have done to overcome this obstacle?

3. What contributions have you made or would you have liked to make in your industry that others can benefit from?

4. With all the time and effort you put into your business, what was the number one benefit you received? Was it worth it?

5. What have you missed out on in your life because of the time, effort, and financial investments you made in your business?

6. If you were to start all over again, what would you do differently? Take as much time as you need, and create a detailed plan.

Completing this exercise should reveal your feelings towards your business and what you think you did right and wrong. It should also clarify what you really want, and how to better balance your life and business. Use this exercise as a map, and refer to it whenever you feel you’re off track.

Key Points and Facts About Managing Your Work Pace and Priorities

Emotion and Action

Exaggerating the negative consequences of not finishing a task can make you more likely to finish it.
A 1979 study on loss aversion found that losses feel about twice as painful as equivalent gains feel good, which is why framing a task in terms of what you’d lose tends to work better than a plain statement of fact.

Work Pace

Some people focus best on one task at a time, while others work better juggling several projects.
Switching between tasks carries a real cost — a 2001 study found it can cost up to 40% of your productive time.

Work-Life Balance

A business that succeeds at the cost of your health, relationships, or ethics isn’t a real success.
A 2026 survey found most small business owners have sacrificed their health or relationships for their business at some point, and poor work-life balance is one of the most commonly reported struggles owners face.

Action Steps for Managing Your Work Pace and Priorities

Reframe a Task You’re Avoiding

Write down one job you’ve been putting off.
List the bad outcomes if you keep avoiding it, and the good outcomes if you finish it.
Use the strongest version of each outcome to push yourself to start.

Identify Your Work Pace

Think back to your most productive projects and note whether you focused on one at a time or worked on several at once.
Set up your next work day to match that pace — either single-tasking with distractions cleared, or planning several projects to rotate between.

Set Your Priorities

Work through the Setting Priorities reflection questions above.
Write down what you’d do differently if you started your business over again.
Use your answers as a checkpoint any time you feel off track.

Checklist for Managing Your Work Pace and Priorities

Reframe the task.
- List the bad outcomes of not finishing and the good outcomes of finishing.
Know your pace.
- Decide if you work best single-tasking or juggling several projects.
Protect your balance.
- Set boundaries between your business and your personal life.
Check your priorities.
- Answer the Setting Priorities questions and note what you’d change.

FAQ: Managing Your Work Pace and Priorities

Why does exaggerating consequences help me finish a task?

Strong emotions push you toward or away from action more forcefully than a flat statement of fact. Framing a task in terms of a real loss taps into loss aversion, which research shows carries more psychological weight than an equivalent gain.

Is it bad to work on several projects at once?

Not necessarily — some people work better that way. But every switch between tasks has a cost, so if you notice your output dropping, try grouping similar tasks together instead of jumping between unrelated ones.

How do I know if my work-life balance is a problem?

If your business is costing you your health, relationships, or the things you value outside of work, that’s a sign to adjust. Poor work-life balance is one of the most commonly reported struggles among small business owners, so you’re not alone if you’re feeling it.

References:

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