Business burnout, much like the flu or afternoon traffic, affects everyone – but for entrepreneurs and business owners the effects can be especially frustrating. The side effects like lack of productivity and motivation only perpetuate entrepreneurial stress and further burnout. By focusing on proper time management, prioritization, and your own self-care you can curb the dreaded business burnout. Kick burnout to the curb with these smarter business operations.
Time Management
You?ve probably heard the saying ?Everything in moderation,? which is especially true when it comes to time management. Working yourself to the bone with no time left for yourself and your emotional health is the fast track to burnout. By setting aside certain hours for work and play you can reach the often spoken about, but hard to find, Work-Life Balance. Try a few of our favorite time management tricks:
- Schedule work around your most productive hours of the day. This is morning time for a lot of people, but night owls might find their creative stride later in the day.
- Plan your day the night before. By writing out your tasks the night before you allow yourself to mentally prepare for the work ahead.
- Set time constraints for tasks. Constraints increase creativity and productivity.
- Plan work around your energy levels. Exhausted? Take a nap or do something good for YOU. You will be better able to tackle that to-do list after a break.
Prioritizing
Prioritization is a vital aspect of effective productivity. Next time you write your schedule out ask yourself, ?What is the most pressing task on my to-do list?? and start there.
?If it?s your job to eat a frog, it?s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it?s your job to eat two frogs, it?s best to eat the biggest one first.? – Mark Twain
By starting your day with your most pressing task you take one giant step towards your goals. Grab a pen and a piece of paper and write out your tasks for the day. Then go through and number the tasks from most important to least important. Now you know exactly where to start!
Outsourcing
Sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Whoever said we have the same amount wasn’t thinking about all of the people with a full staff ready to help them with their to-do list. Sit down and ask yourself “What is my biggest time suck?” and “What do I dread doing?” If it’s within budget, looking into outsourcing your FML tasks to a professional. Chances are they enjoy the work you dread. Speaking of, we know a pretty awesome operations team ?
