Although work-life balance has been part of the public narrative since the 70s, entrepreneurs are still trying to figure out how to balance the scales when it comes to building their businesses while still taking time to enjoy their lives.

Over the past decade of my entrepreneurial journey, I've learned that the same skills that led to my success in business also helped me achieve the elusive balance in my life.

So I come to you with an unusual proposal. Instead of turning off your entrepreneurial mojo in trying to strike a balance, turn it up. Here are four elements I use every day to maintain balance.

Connected: 6 secrets smart leaders use to achieve work-life balance

Analyze opportunity costs and trade-offs

Instead of thinking of “balance” as “all things being equal and great” analyze opportunity costs of the activities in which you are involved. Next, determine the trade-offs you're willing to make, just as you might in your business.

As entrepreneurs, we understand that everything has a cost. The root of making good trade-offs to benefit your work/life balance is taking the time to analyze the opportunity costs of how you spend your time, resources, money, and energy in relation to all areas of your life.

As an entrepreneur who manages multiple companies, I actively make decisions about what I'm willing to give up in my quest to honor what I care about most. Sure, those decisions may change, but I make the decisions without letting outside forces make them for me.

One compromise I made recently was to lessen my relationship with social media. Since one of my companies is a marketing communications agency, this could be seen as a poor trade-off since social media is a key tool for client marketing. What I discovered was that I was spending too much time on social media as a consumer (and not a leader, influencer or producer). This was cutting into the time I could have spent on other activities that I value more.

I value my time and prioritize exchanges that give me more of it. In my quest for work-life balance, time has become an essential value for me, but yours may be different.

Spin like your life depends on it – because it does

When we don't experience our ideal work-life balance scenario, we can feel stuck or even adopt an “it is what it is” mentality. But if there's one thing we know from entrepreneurship, it's that torque power to help us see the growth we need.

Pivoting allows you to course correct while still maintaining enough familiarity to avoid cognitive overload or biting off more than you can chew.

In my world, the need for rotation is completely driven by problems, challenges, or worries. I like to say “discomfort is data” – and data, as you know, is a powerful tool.

If you feel discomfort in your search for work-life balance, it means that something has increased in your awareness that you can identify changing needs. The power is in spinning around this concern to experiment with temporary or long-term solutions.

For example, I implemented this tool to solve a source of discomfort for me: my morning routine. My solution was to roll over and start experimenting. I kept a few things the same, including the rise time, but I wanted to change almost everything else. I started rolling around to see what worked for me and what didn't. First, I put the activities together. Then I disconnected some activities. I also removed some activities and modified others.

The most important place to start is by asking yourself: Where am I experiencing discomfort in my work-life balance journey and what is a pivot I can make today improve it?

Connected: 4 business practices that will also improve your personal life

Create a balance sheet

Think back to when you started your business – what was the one thing everyone and their mom told you to start? or business plan!

Your quest for work-life balance is no different. Do you have a “balance plan?”

Similar to how you would make time for Strategic planning for your business, do the same for your personal life. Maybe you have non-negotiables that you do every day to help balance. Maybe your balance sheet is more of a playbook for how you handle certain things.

For example, do you have “calendar rules” for when you are online or offline at work? Do you have specific personal goals that you track and report on with an accountability buddy like you do with your professional goals? I do all of these things and each one contributes to my work-life balance.

Additionally, part of my balance plan is regular strategic planning around work-life balance with annual, quarterly and weekly goals. I even keep a chart of all my goals together.

Since I am the person at the center of my business, it is important for me to value the work I do for my personal life as much as my professional life.

Before your next work-life balance orientation, take 30-60 minutes and create a balance plan for yourself. Start by asking yourself: What do I want my work-life balance to look and feel like?

Complete a plus/delta or postmortem review

When you complete a launch in your business, the best way to improve your success, mitigate future problems, and plan for the next launch is to do a post-mortem on the project, complete a plus/delta analysis or conduct a performance review.

But analytics and measurement shouldn't be reserved for business operations alone. The same strategy can be used outside of your business to align your daily actions with your vision for the direction of your life.

Analyze your work-life balance efforts at the same or similar pace as your business efforts.

In my life I have adopted the “12-week year” methodology for strategic planning. Each week, I briefly review how well I've achieved my goals and use that information to plan for the week ahead. At the end of the 12 weeks, I analyze the whole process. Since I track my personal goals alongside my professional goals, I see balance because I kept all the elements of my life mixed up on my strategic planning pages as they are in real life.

Connected: 10 leaders who set good examples of work-life balance

Let's be real. Growth is difficult, and when you consider the added challenges that entrepreneurship brings, it can feel like an insurmountable effort to keep all the plates spinning. The truth is, being an entrepreneur is about taking responsibility and accountability for your success, but that sense of responsibility and accountability doesn't end when you close your laptop and switch from professional to personal mode.

Whether it's applying strategic planning to your personal life and creating a plan of balance, embracing compromises, experimenting with focusing on specific issues, or performing regular post-mortems on your balancing act, these are all tools in your arsenal. They have been proven to work in business empires, so now is the time to apply them to You, Inc. and see what incredible growth you can achieve.