Reaching the midpoint in the year, you might find that stress is creeping up as you work harder to ensure you are hitting your targets. Prolonged stress in your life can lead to burnout, a physical or mental collapse in your body caused by overwork. You might notice the lines between your personal and professional life blurring, or your passion for what you do lessening. But rather than dealing with burnout when it is already in motion, what can we do as business owners to prevent reaching that stage in the first place?
Set clear boundaries
Setting yourself regular ‘office hours’ gives both you and any colleagues clear boundaries regarding when you are available to be contacted, and a definitive start and end point your working day. This allows you time in the evenings to decompress and relax, without your mind wandering to work. If you find yourself constantly taking work home with you, you will eventually run out of steam, which will quickly lead to burnout. Setting definitive office hours also detaches your self worth from your work, a common behaviour that can be incredibly damaging.
On top of this, push to take regular short breaks throughout your day, ideally once every 90 minutes to stretch, hydrate or get some fresh air.
Embrace Mistakes
Don’t let mistakes be a negative cause for stress, and instead view them as a catalyst for positive change. Making a mistake can be a good reason to go back and reassess your goals, and how effective your business plan is currently suited to achieving them.
Plan and Prioritise
Keeping on top of what you need to prioritise through your week and beyond can be a constant cycle, but it lets you focus your attention. Creating lists, or using apps such as Google Tasks or Todoist to keep track of and organise what needs to be done can be a simple but highly effective change to implement.
Time management tricks such as the Pomodoro technique can also help to sustain productivity throughout a busy day. The technique suggests setting a 25 minute timer and focusing singly on one task in a short burst, before moving onto the next once the timer is up. Shifting your perspective from viewing time as an enemy to viewing it as an ally can help you optimise your working day.
Set SMART Goals
Clarifying your vision for your business is ultimately the thing that will help drive you towards success. Try setting long and short-term goals to keep motivated towards what you want to achieve. These goals will also help you to assess your progress, and hold yourself accountable for meeting your targets.
To learn more about setting SMART goals and creating an effective, sustainable business plan, please don’t hesitate to contact me at richardesau@actioncoach.co.uk
