How to Avoid Letting Personal Issues Sink Your Business

At work, your employees see you as “boss.” At home, your family sees you as “mom” or “dad.” While it would be nice if you could seamlessly switch between titles and roles without any overlap, it doesn’t work this way. Your pursuit of job-life separation or work-life balance will always be flawed.

Bringing stress home with you can be hard on your family. It affects them personally and robs you of some of your happiness outside of work. Your spouse has probably discussed this with you at one point or another, asking you to leave work at work. But what about when you bring personal issues from home with you to the office? Nobody seems to talk about how you properly check personal issues at the door—or if that’s the best strategy.

As much as the business world talks about work-life balance these days, you would assume that perfect harmony between your job and your personal life would be easy to achieve. Sometimes it works out that way, but often it doesn’t. If you’re dealing with particularly weighty issues on the home front, bringing these struggles with you to the office and projecting them onto your employees, projects, and leadership decisions can be costly. If you don’t get a grip on them, everything at work and home could unravel in a violent and unpredictable fashion.

3 Personal Problems That Threaten to Hurt Your Business

Everyone has unique issues, but when you’re looking at personal problems that could have a direct and detrimental effect on the future of your business, here are a few of the biggies you may need to know how to deal with.

1. Marital Problems and Divorce

Is your marriage on the rocks? Are you going through a breakup with a long-time boyfriend or girlfriend? Relationship problems weigh heavy on a person’s mind. Make sure you’re getting support from a therapist or friend, not bottling up your emotions.

2. Serious Car Accident

Car accidents are something you have very little control over. While a fender bender probably isn’t a big deal, a serious wreck requires a more proactive approach on your part. You never know what the future costs will be, and it’s important that you protect yourself. Crash victims who have legal representation collect insurance payouts that are 3.5 times higher, on average, than the payouts people collect on their own. Be smart and pursue your options. You might need that extra money to stay afloat.

3. Death of a Loved One

The death of a loved one is tough, no matter the circumstances. Whether a friend, spouse, child, parent, or another relative, you never know how you’ll deal with death until you’re confronted with it.

While you certainly need to take some time to heal the open wounds, how you deal with it in relation to work poses a huge test. The best thing you can do is address it when you return to work and let people know that you’re still grieving. Trying to hide this fact doesn’t do anyone any favors.

Take Control of Your Life

It’s your life. You can’t control everything that happens. However, you do get to choose how you respond to the challenges life throws your way. Relational problems, injuries, personal finance issues, and death may hurt and frustrate you at home. But don’t let these problems hurt you twice.

It may take time—lots of time—but find constructive and healthy ways to deal with these issues now, before they affect your business and the livelihood of your employees.