As CEO of eight different companies, it’s become a conscious decision for me to maintain a positive work-life balance. Over the last 20 years of entrepreneurship, I’ve learned that the key to maintaining this balance is managing my time efficiently; to help myself and my fellow entrepreneurs achieve this, I created Taskworld, an online task management program.

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To further help balance work and my personal life, I abide by the following six mantras, which I encourage everyone to follow. These simple tips have helped me stay productive while still enjoying life to the fullest.

1. The right fit leads to the right balance

If you are looking for balance between your personal and professional life, the key lies in finding a job at a company and industry that fits your aspirations and skills. It’s all about finding a profession your heart and mind wants to be involved with. If you are stuck in the wrong job, your time will be spent as a chore. Balance is achieved when you are happy about how you spend your hours; life is too short and hours too scarce not to follow your passion.

2. Staying longer at work doesn’t necessarily earn you brownie points

Working hard and putting in long hours may be essential in certain industries. This is fine, as long as you are fulfilled and growing in the process. It becomes problematic when you do it and feel forced to be doing it, or if you’re only putting in extra hours to impress your boss and colleagues. What ultimately matters is your output and overall performance; more time invested does not always equate to productivity. Be mindful of how you spend your time and always focus on results.

3. Don’t try to lead a double life

The traditional concept of work-life balance has its share of flaws. Your work is an aspect of your life as a whole. Problems arise when you start treating work as an unwanted part of your time. The best way to avoid creating an issue is to not to have any distinction at all between "work time" and "personal time."

Look at your hours as a finite resource with a holistic view. You only have so many hours in a week, so figure out what you value in life and allocate them accordingly. Your calendar is a reflection of your values. If, for example, you care about exercising, make sure you plan for your exercise time the same way you plan for business meetings. Always make sure you’re spending the scarcest of your resource in ways that truly give you satisfaction and meaning.

4. The employee, not the employer, has the ultimate power

We are all masters of our destiny. The responsibility of having a balance in life rests more on the employee’s shoulders than the employer’s. Although some employers may be demanding, that doesn’t mean they control your personal time. The power is in your hands; you either take control of your time or let others do it for you. It’s your choice.

5. Understand the root of procrastination

Procrastination by definition is the act of postponing important tasks to do less important or unimportant tasks. Procrastination occurs when you lack one or more of these factors: will, discipline and energy. Lack of will indicates your passion lies someplace else. Lack of discipline arises from misplaced priorities. When it comes to energy, it’s all about managing it. Some people have more energy in the morning, some in the evening. Figure out the best time to allocate your tasks, then the best way. The key to fighting procrastination is to carefully plan for what you have to do, and then getting it done at that time.

6. Offer uncompromised quality

By being thoughtful about what you choose to do (or not to do), you can focus on quality at work. If you take on too much, quality will suffer. Have a good sense of the capacity you have and gauge it so you get more out of your time spent. A good way to measure this is thinking about what you can do with 20% of your time to have 80% impact on your life. Not all work is equal. Delegate or eliminate what doesn’t add much value.

While work holds penultimate importance in my life, I’ve also made a conscious choice to make room for hobbies and personal time. Seeing my children in the morning, family dinners; these are the things that are extremely important to me, and the reason I’ve created a how-to for a better work-life balance.

Mashable Job Board Listings

The Mashable Job Board connects job seekers across the U.S. with unique career opportunities in the digital space. While we publish a wide range of job listings, we have selected a few job opportunities from the past several weeks to help get you started. Happy hunting!

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