Health is wealth

​If you run your own business you will know the constant pressures of business ownership life; it’s busy, you wear multiple hats on a daily basis, and there are changing deadlines and competing priorities that suck up your time.
 
Most of the time you never get to the bottom of the to-do list, and often we head towards scheduled days off having to catch up on all the things we haven’t achieved during the working week when really, we should be enjoying some downtime. 

Well, congratulations it probably means you are doing something right, but also, it’s means you need to build some strategy into your business around how you continue to grow it, and how you look after yourself at the same time.
 
Today’s society has us more connected than ever before, and with work days becoming increasingly longer, the expectation from many to be always contactable can leave us a little burnt out to say the least. If you don’t build a self-care strategy into your business, you may end up hating something you once loved.
 
So how do you look after yourself better in 2019? Here are our top tips:
 
Build self-care into your business planning for 2019
 
This means scheduling in downtime; days off, holidays, and times when you put the phone to message bank, the emails to auto-reply, and give yourself a chance to tap out.
 
Why does this need to be part of your business planning? Well simple, if you don’t plan, you often don't do. So, schedule in your downtime, exercise regime, a massage, or those much-needed holidays.
 
Yes, it might feel weird at first to turn your phone off or unplug from your emails, but it will give you the space and time to focus on other things. Life is not all about work.
 
Outsource or hire additional people
 
Every business is only as good as the people in it, and sometimes we can’t do all the things. We outsource our hairdressing to an expert for example, and we should consider parts of our business the same way. You might find someone who is more efficient and skilled in certain areas of your business. Accountants, Book keepers, Admin staff, and Marketing manager roles can be outsourced which will do wonders for freeing up time for you to focus on other areas of your business, helping to ensure that you don’t crash your way into the end of the working week.
 
Make certain days of the week meeting free
 
Everyone likes a meeting, but meetings take up time, and even more so if there’s travel involved. Try and have 1 – 2 days free of meetings a week, as it will do wonders for your productivity and help keep your mind on the task at hand.
 
I try and keep meetings to Wednesday and Thursday each week. It’s not always the way it pans out, but scheduling meetings back to back on those days, and focusing on being in the office on the others can help lower the stress levels, and is a more efficient use of time.
 
Get enough sleep
 
Sleep deprivation can be a killer on your health, and it can also be a killer on your business. It can crush your creativity, have you making mistakes in leadership, hiring, and with clients that you otherwise wouldn’t make. Make it a non-negotiable priority to get enough sleep on a daily basis; it might simply be a case of being more disciplined and heading to bed earlier.
 
These are just a few tips to help keep you on track, and make this 2019 a productive and creative one.
 
KB