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Running your own business is a huge responsibility. You have worked tirelessly for years to get to this point, toiling late into the night and investing immense amounts of time and money into your company. Now that you’re up and running you have targets to hit, employees to manage, and clients to keep happy. It doesn’t matter whether you run a clothes shop, vegan restaurant, or a commercial litigation law firm: the work never ends and it becomes your entire life.
You undoubtedly take enormous pride in what you have created and are committed to making your business a success. Nothing good comes without hard work, but working for yourself is still much more satisfying than being an employee in an office helping to make someone else’s dreams a reality. But having a business is a little like having a baby. You need to dedicate a great deal of effort to make sure it is happy and healthy. But as a parent, no one would advise you to devote every waking hour to your child and drop everything else. You’d send them off to daycare, school and occasionally let someone else look after them while you take some time for yourself.
And the same goes for your business. It’s OK to take a step back from your company and relax. If you put too much pressure on yourself, your stress levels will soar and you could end up suffering from burnout. It’s important to give yourself time to breathe and wind down from business matters. If you’re not careful, you could lose the passion for your business that got you started in the first place.
To help you maintain the appropriate level of work-life balance, here are some tips to stop your business from taking over your life.
Enjoy your morning
As soon as you check your work emails in the morning, that’s it. You are in work mode and will be until you clock off at the end of the day. Give yourself a bit of time in the morning to prepare yourself for the day and look after yourself. Go for a run, have a big breakfast, or sit for a while with a coffee and a good book. Your email inbox can wait an hour, and your productivity will benefit from your calm, relaxing morning ritual.
Create a schedule
When you have a business to look after, it’s hard to stop it from occupying your thoughts day and night. It’s essential that you schedule some time to block out work and enjoy yourself. The best way to do this is by creating a schedule for your week, planning days off to give yourself a break. Create a more in-depth plan for each day, detailing the exact time you’ll start work and when you’ll clock off for the evening. Be strict with yourself during your out-of-office hours. Although things will pop up, and you won’t always end up following your itinerary to the letter, it still provides a framework for a better work-life balance.
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