Starting a company and remaining an active member of your family is no easy task. In some ways, a startup becomes the newborn of a family–whiny and constantly craving attention. It doesn’t leave a lot of room for other people to enjoy your company, and as many middle children know, this can leave others feeling left out and abandoned.

In light of Steve Blank’s recent Founder Genius video, illustrating his difficulties balancing family time and work time, we called up our resident “Surviving the Entrepreneurial Life” expert Meg Hirshberg to see what she recommended for staying connected with your family once the cries of an infant startup call.

Meg reminded us there are no certainties when it comes to starting a venture, but there are several things you can do in hopes of preserving your home-life balance. As Steve says “there’s nothing worse than an entrepreneur melting down because he or she is getting divorced after they’ve abandoned their family, in exchange for completely giving over their life to work.” Here are three things you can start doing to prevent this today:

Setting Attainable Goals – Setting goals of family time are always a good place to start. But Meg warns against starting off with goals that are too lofty and promises that will inevitably be broken.

“Be careful of setting the bar too high,” Meg said. “In times where my husband had to be all-in because of the craziness of the business, all we had time for was a 10 minute walk around the block. And that was enough. Choose a realistic activity or amount of time you can stick to.”

It doesn’t matter if it’s dinner once a week with the whole family, movie night once a week or even once a month, or, as Steve says, just putting your kids to bed. Starting with small, attainable goals will help to establish a routine amidst the chaos of starting a new company.

It’s Quality Not Quantity – There is no clocking out for entrepreneurs. Thinking about the business lingers long into the midnight hours, and continues into the morning light. Recognizing this, Meg says it’s important to make sure the time spent with family is not just physical proximity but mental proximity as well.

“There’s always this issue of distraction with entrepreneurs,” Meg said. “Being with your kids, but constantly looking at your smart phone doesn’t count as family time. If you’re only getting 30 minutes with your family a week, make sure you’re present mentally. Not just physically.”

As Steve mentions, family, and kids especially, know when you’re there with them or still thinking about work.

“My kids and family had a pretty good radar of whether I was still connected or not, or if I was still thinking about work,” Steve said. “And they kind of forced me to [pay attention]. The time between when I came home and putting them to bed was really important for our family.”

Avoid Red Zone Ultimatums – The beginnings of a business will require a lot of adjustments between the entrepreneur and his or her family. This can lead to heated discussions and arguments. Meg reminds entrepreneurs not to make commitments in the heat of the moment.

“Sometimes during arguments, entrepreneurs will want to agree to goals they know are unattainable simply because they want to end the current altercation,” Meg said. “Refrain from agreeing to commitments or goals when things are red hot. These goal-setting conversations have to be held outside of these circumstances.”

Making promises when someone’s back is against the wall decreases the chances of following through with these pledges, leading to more disagreements and a hurtful cycle entrepreneurs don’t want to start.

Balancing life between work and family is never easy. There will be hard times and pitfalls, but picking a few (small) things you can do—starting today—is a great place to begin in order to place importance on the things and people that provide support in these hectic times of starting a venture.