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Greater minds than I have heralded the importance of striking a healthy work-life balance, emphasizing the physical, psychological, and social benefits. But taking time off, making it to the gym three times a week and practicing meditation can feel like a tall ask for a busy entrepreneur.
So, you find what works. Maybe it’s not a 5 am wakeup and cardio workout every day, but a weekly Pilates class to keep you sane. Or perhaps you’re better fueled by time with friends than a meditative session.
Here are my tips for improving your routine as an entrepreneur and striking a balance between rest and business success.
Related: Is it Possible to Balance a Career and Personal Wellness? 26 Entrepreneurs Share Their Own Tips
Plan breaks throughout the day
They say that sitting is the silent killer — our sedentary lifestyles bring multiple risk factors and implications for our health. While regular exercise is the goal, taking intermittent breaks throughout the day to stand and stretch will help mitigate these risks, at a minimum.
Health professionals recommend taking a break for 5-10 minutes for every hour spent at your workstation. Stand up, walk around, change position, etc. It also helps to incorporate back, neck, hip and hand stretches into your routine as well.
Another common ailment experienced by us computer warriors is eye strain. Practice the 20-20-20 Rule to relieve stress on the eyes. Use blue light filter glasses to reduce eye strain, improve mental health and support a healthy sleep pattern.
These small yet mighty improvements ensure you make the most of your short breaks throughout the day, improving your physical and mental health and preventing future postural, muscular and ocular issues.
Don’t cheat your out-of-office days
Do you fully “unplug” when you take time off? When it comes to out-of-office days, it’s important to give your mind (and laptop) a break. That means no checking Slack messages, no attending to emails and no answering of panicked client calls (unless absolutely necessary).
Have I always signed off during my vacation days? No — guilty as charged. But as I have come to recognize the importance of time with family (for my and their sake), I see this “off the radar” approach as essential. Today, this is a huge privilege, given the support of my team, but even when I was a solo entrepreneur, I found ways to sign off, even if only for a day or so.
Don’t cheat yourself out of time off. If your business structure and capacity allow, keep yourself accountable for taking a real vacation, turning off your notifications and deferring business to another day. Chances are, all will be well once you return.
Related: 9 Things to Do to Have a Work-Free Vacation (Infographic)
Know your “must haves” versus “nice to haves”
Most entrepreneurs are creative thinkers. We are the “big ideas” people of the world. This makes us prone to getting distracted by the next shiny object, directing our attention away from our most important priorities and goals.
The result of pursuing these “nice to have” ideas is overwhelm, lost investments and burnout. When we pursue new ideas without clarity and intention, our priorities become muddled, and we have less space in our day for planning and rest.
I am particularly guilty of this — which is why I have my “no” person (my COO). He keeps my ideas in check, helping me establish my “must haves” versus my “nice to haves.” Not only does this help keep my company on track, but it also ensures that I spend my productive time on critical tasks while allowing enough time for rest.
Find the activities that feed you
Many guides on how to strike a work-life balance simply don’t resonate with my unique interests and goals. For example, I’m not a cold plunge, morning meditation or yoga person. But I do find that time with my family feeds me more than anything. I appreciate traveling, meeting new people and going out to tasty restaurants.
The key to balancing your routine is to find what feeds YOU. For you, that might be morning walks, playing with your dog, hitting the pickleball court or hitting up friends for Happy Hour. Identify the activities that best support your physical, social and emotional health, and make time for these.
Traditional advice would have you believe that you need to structure your day a certain way — e.g., early morning wakeup, workout routine, time blocking, etc. In reality, everyone operates differently. Find the things that fuel you, structure your day in a way that makes you feel productive yet rejuvenated, and schedule time for the things that feed your soul.
Recognize the early signs of burnout
Like a thief in the night, burnout creeps up on you when you least expect it. It may feel like one month, you’re on top of your game, then all of a sudden, you’re a couch potato with barely enough will to make it to the fridge for a soda. The objective is to not let it get to this point, but that requires the ability to detect the signs of burnout early on.
This can look different for different people, but generally, the signs of burnout include constant fatigue (that doesn’t improve with rest), a struggle to stay focused and motivated, feeling more irritable and overwhelmed than usual, withdrawing from social interactions and inexplicable health issues. Basically, if you feel “weird” and aren’t sure why, burnout might be right around the corner.
The good news is that if you catch these signs early, you’ll be better able to mitigate the damage. You might need to pare down your schedule, slot more breaks into your day, vent to a friend or book a vacation. Resist the urge to power through; the mental and physical implications of burnout are no fun!