We all have the same 24 hours in a day. Running your own business can easily become time consuming and all encompassing. We start to live, breathe, dream & becoming totally pre-occupied with our work. Whilst total commitment to your business success is commendable, it can quickly become unhealthy and toxic.
So how do some people seem to manage to 'do it all' and others constantly feel under pressure, stressed, overwhelmed and distracted?
#29 Top 10 tips to avoid overwhelm & stress in your business
Here's my top 10 tips to help you avoid overwhelm & stress whilst running your own business..
1. Strategise. Decide what your key priorities and goals are for your business in the weeks ahead, months ahead and year ahead. Take time to think through what you want and how you're going to achieve it.
2. Plan. Taking the overarching goals and priorities you listed above, take some time each day or each week to plan ahead and decide how you are going to devote the available time you have to tasks that work towards enabling you to meet those daily, weekly, monthly or annual goals.
3. Prioritise. By now you should know what you're doing, where you're heading and why. You then need to prioritise what is essential, nice to do and not really necessary. Then tackle your task lists and concentrate on working your way through the top priorities to the bottom. This list may need to be evaluated on a daily/weekly basis to keep you on track and may mean some of the 'not really necessary' tasks never get done.
4. Be proactive. Think through & know what you're doing before you do it. Reacting to situations or circumstances always makes us feel less in control of our destiny, so wherever possible anticipate, second guess & be prepared for changes, upsets, conflicts. A good idea is to schedule some time each day where you can solely deal with these things as you also need to be as flexible as possible!
5. Say no. Anything that doesn't fit into the plan you made above, you can consider saying no to UNLESS you deem it likely to be able to meet the goals/priorities you've outlined faster or more effectively.
6. Focus. Break down your time into what time you have available and how long each task should take. Concentrate only on the task in hand once started and refuse to be distracted by emails, telephone, social media or other calls on your time until you have finished the task in hand. Then move onto the next task and so on. You'll feel a bigger sense of achievement that you've actually started and finished tasks rather than jumped from one task to another without accomplishing anything.
7. Ask for help. If you're task list is never ending and equally important it may be that you've simply too much work to do for the time you have available. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Take a long hard look at the tasks you have to do and decide which ones require solely your input and which could be undertaken by others whether they be virtual assistants, family, friends, work experience students, or even your children!
8. Take a break. A short break of as little as just 10 minute every few hours can do wonders to rejuvenate your spirits and give your brain a well earned rest from all that focus. Take a walk, practice meditation, create or simply potter - anything that feels mindful and restful. If you're able to take a longer break then read my top tips for taking a break from your business.
9. Be kind to yourself. Equally important as taking regular breaks is to ensure you are looking after yourself in mind, body & spirit. Getting enough sleep, eating well, having fun down time and regularly exercise (including mindfulness & meditation!) are essential to being in the best mind, body & spirit shape to do justice to your business. Sometimes these need to be scheduled into your week as well to ensure they happen!
10. Enjoy your work! If you're doing something that you truly love and are passionate about then running your own business becomes a whole lot easier! If there are aspects of your business that you don't enjoy then perhaps it's time to re-think them - do you have to do them/could someone else do them? Your business is in your hands to create and mould to suit you!
What do you to avoid overwhelm & stress?
