For most small business owners, it’s the one question that they can never seem to answer successfully. And yet it’s the one they really do need to resolve.

As I have documented regularly in this column, technology is no help. It means that, unlike in the ‘good old days’, you can never really be away from work, however hard you try. Ask your CEO to leave his/her handheld device behind when he/she goes on holiday and you will be met with all sorts of ‘I’d love to’ statements but no acceptance of the idea.

You don’t have to answer messages as soon as you receive them

The first thing to remember is that just because somebody sends you a message, whether it be text, social media or email, you don’t have to answer it there and then. Watches that receive these messages are the latest device. I hate them. People cannot ignore them and I find it rude.

Perhaps we should develop the equivalent of parental controls for adults who cannot leave their device alone? Simply switching them off at a certain time of day would be a good start. Think what it would do for you – give you more time with the kids, do all those things you never seem to find the time for, or even relax and do nothing.

Much easier to achieve in a ‘9 to 5’ working environment

Having spent the last four months working from home whilst the office has been largely ‘locked down’, I’m convinced that it’s a much harder balance to achieve for those whose work base is also their home. There are no clean lines of what is work and what is play. Work/life balance is much easier to achieve in a ‘9 to 5’ environment when you simply put your coat on, leave work and go home.

But a small business owner can never do that. At least not without a huge dose of discipline that most of them don’t possess. For them it’s probably a question that they love their work and find it incredibly difficult to tear themselves away.

There is no one answer for everyone. We must all deal with it in our own sweet way. But it’s important we do before we are consumed by it all.