Did you quit your full-time job in order to pursue a dream of indentured servitude — or even slavery?

Would-be entrepreneurs always think life will be better without a boss or a 9-to-5 schedule. We plan to work on our own time, set our own priorities, and pursue the projects we’re passionate about.

And then one day it hits you: “I’m working from 5 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., my weekends are non-existent, I never see the people I love, and I’ve gained 2 inches around the middle.”

Wait, you didn’t add 2 inches? Maybe I’m projecting. The point is, we all have our own warning signs that things have gotten out of whack. Exercise was a big one for me: The gym is just an elevator ride away, Central Park jogging paths are right outside my door, and I still managed to pack on the pounds. I have skinny genes, but I can’t get into my skinny jeans. Clearly it’s time to re-calibrate.

When you’re the boss, there’s no one to shut off the lights, remind you to take lunch, or urge you to enroll in the office wellness program. Instead, you find yourself pushing harder, taking on new projects and working longer hours until …

Until what, exactly? How do you know that business has taken over your life and it’s time to get back into balance?

I put that question to some of my favorite bloggers and business thinkers. Maybe you’ll recognize yourself in some of their responses.

You know it’s time to re-balance when …

1. The only question your friends ever ask you is, “How’s work?” (Amy Tobin, Ariel Marketing Group)
2. You show up on time for a family dinner, and everyone wonders what’s wrong (Tim Berry, Bplans/Palo Alto Software)
3. You’ve been dying to see the premier of a new movie, and you suddenly realize it’s already playing on HBO (Rieva Lesonsky, Small Biz Daily)
4. You forget to kiss your wife goodnight, but you’d never sign off Twitter without saying goodbye to your tweeps (Mark Babbitt, YouTern)
5. You can’t remember the ages of your own grandchildren (Annette Penney, Inspire & Acquire)
6. Your spouse asks “Are you all right?” more than 2 times in any given day (Rick Manelius, RickManelius.com)
7. You would lose your entire sense of identity if your work were taken away from you (Christian Hollingsworth, Smart Boy Designs)

Tim Berry adds another point that’s worth mentioning: “When you pretend you’ll make it up to your family later, after the business is successful, then it’s time to re-balance.”

That flies in the face of many so-called “experts,” who insist that entrepreneurs owe 100% of their attention to the business in its early days. “Make the sacrifice now,” they argue, “and you’ll have more control of your time later on.”

In reality, it rarely works that way. Priorities become habits, and habits are notoriously hard to break. If we can’t make time now for the things that really matter, chances are we’ll never get around to it.

With that, I think I’m going to turn down a lucrative white paper job that was offered to me yesterday. I have friends I need to re-connect with. I don’t want to resort to a dog-walker. And it’s not like the gym is going to come to me.

What about you? What are your personal warning signs that work has taken over your life? Please join the conversation below.

{Photo credit: CraftyGoat via flickr CC}