As a business owner, it often feels like the workday never truly ends. Emails ping well past dinner, urgent tasks pile up on weekends, and the pressure to keep grinding can dominate every moment. But what if you didn’t have to sacrifice your personal life to succeed in business? What if it were possible to close big deals and have quality time with your family and yourself?

Marjan Mosen, who closed $9.4 million in sales in a single year while pushing herself to the brink of burnout, discovered that there is a smarter way to work. Her honest story reveals the hidden cost of the hustle culture and offers practical strategies to break free from constant work addiction and reclaim your evenings and weekends. Here’s how you can do the same.

Recognize the Real Driver Behind Your Workaholism

The first step to change is awareness. Marjan points out that the feeling of needing to be "on" all the time — checking emails late at night or working weekends — isn’t driven by ambition or passion. Instead, it’s fear: fear of falling behind, fear of being judged as not good enough, fear that a break means losing ground.

Understanding that this fear controls your calendar is powerful. Once you realize fear is a mindset you can manage, you can begin shifting your habits and retake control of your time.

Step 1: Shift Your Mindset — Your Value Is in Results, Not Hours Logged

Marjan used to reply to emails late at night, convinced it proved her commitment. But those responses, sent when she was exhausted or distracted, weren’t her best work. What truly made a difference was focusing on deep, strategic work during her most productive hours.

The mindset shift here is clear: Your worth comes from the quality of your results, not how many hours you’re chained to your devices. Working smarter, not harder, means prioritizing focused effort over constant busyness.

Step 2: Design Your Ideal Week — Plan With Your Life in Mind

Too often, business owners default to a Monday-to-Friday work grind and assume that’s the only option. Marjan encourages visualizing your perfect week—every day, including evenings and weekends.

When do you want to start and finish work?
What does your Friday afternoon really look like?
Are weekends completely off-limits or do you work some hours?
How do you want to spend your evenings — with family, hobbies, or rest?

By giving yourself permission to design a week that aligns with your life, you create the space to enjoy those missed moments. Have a birthday in the middle of the week? Build your schedule around it instead of forcing yourself to work through it.

Then, reverse-engineer that vision: If you want to close your laptop by 5 p.m. on certain days or keep one weekend day sacred, start blocking off small chunks of time now that get you closer to that goal.

Step 3: Conduct a Brutally Honest Time Audit

For one week, track everything you do from wake-up till bedtime. Be honest: How much of it moves your biggest goals forward? How much is just “busy work” or even just distractions and overthinking?

Marjan found that social media scrolling, overperfecting tasks, and unnecessarily long meetings quietly eroded her time. Seeing these patterns clearly lets you begin making intentional choices about what you keep and what you cut.

The goal isn’t self-judgment — it’s clarity. That clarity will retrain your brain to reduce fear and break the addictive cycle of overwork.

Step 4: Restructure Your Days Around Your “Big Rock”

Once you know where your time goes, pick one big task each day that will move your biggest goal forward. Do this “big rock” task first and protect that time like it’s the most important meeting you’ll have.

All other work — emails, small tasks, busywork — should fit around this priority, not the other way around.

Marjan’s success with her side business came from creating non-negotiable morning routines: some days working on the business itself, others devoted to exercise, fueling her energy and focus to hit high-impact tasks consistently.

And don’t forget to schedule breaks. Regular mental and physical resets boost productivity and help you maintain balance.

Why This Matters: Your People Need the Best Version of You

It’s tempting to think that your family, clients, or team need more of your time. But what they truly need is the calmer, more present version of you — not a stressed, burnt-out shell.

Stress is contagious. When you carry it, it spreads to those around you. Success means little if it costs your health, relationships, or peace of mind.

Final Thoughts: You Can Have It All — Balance and Success

Marjan Mosen’s journey shows that it’s possible to break free from the relentless grind, hit big business goals, and finally reclaim your evenings and weekends. Recognize the fear, design your ideal week, audit your time with brutal honesty, and restructure to focus on what truly moves the needle.

Taking these steps doesn’t just improve your business — it transforms your life.

What’s one thing you’d love to do more of in your evenings or weekends if you had the time? Reflect on that today — and start making space for it tomorrow.

Your business can thrive without stealing every moment of your life. It’s time to get your life back.

Inspired by Marjan Mosen’s insights and personal story on reclaiming time and energy for what matters beyond work.