Entrepreneurs are known for their pursuit of success without taking a day off from their schedule. It is not surprising if they spend more than 60 hours in a week on their new venture. However, these restless hours negatively impact their mental and physical health.
You must cut some hours to remain productive and creative at the workplace. Without proper rest, your brain will not function to its true potentials. Still, it seems impossible to put the body to rest with the long list of pending activities.
It may sound cliché, but entrepreneurs should find a balance between professional and personal life. Here, you will find some tips to cut the working hours and find some time to put the mind and body to rest.
Put Blocks of Time
The time block is a great time management strategy to schedule and complete essential tasks. You need to create blocks of time throughout the day for different activities in the workspace. But this time, add a block for rest in your day to recharge your body.
People use time blocks to add essential tasks during their most productive hours of the day. During the resting hours, you can cut off professional communication to focus on wellbeing. Spend some time with your loved ones without looking at the smartphone or clock.
Trust the Employees
You may have hired a team of experts to take care of different processes in the business. However, some leaders don’t catch a break because they overlook the entire organisation and the employees with micromanagement. It makes no sense as the limited time should be allocated to important tasks only.
A good leader trusts subordinates with the allocated roles and responsibilities. It makes no sense to hire experts with years of experience if you don’t trust them with the job. Also, your trust in their abilities will build a positive relationship to increase employee retention and overall productivity.
Divide Tasks
The size of tasks often creates a state of panic and urgency in the mind of leaders. They will spend extra hours in the office to complete the tasks before the deadline, only to encounter another set of goals awaiting the next day. Therefore, the cycle of needless urgency continues until mental and physical health takes some serious damage.
The solution here is to divide the tasks into small sub-tasks to create an efficient timeline for the project. As a result, you will have more control over the project than before. Therefore, the panic and urgency will vanish, allowing you to go home early after a productive day at work.
Set Realistic Goals
It will take time to achieve everything in the long-term goals of your business. Successful businesses are not built overnight. Thus, it is crucial to set realistic goals to cut short the working hours and create balance in professional and personal life.
You can learn from the competitors to set a timeline for each project or milestone. It is okay to miss a few milestones if the business is growing at a steady pace. However, it will take some unachieved deadlines to set realistic goals for organisational growth.
Invest in Automation
Automation is a long-term investment with short-term gains as well for the whole organisation. You will save time from the tedious, manual tasks to focus on more critical activities. More importantly, the mental energy will not drain on stuff that a computer program can easily manage with complete accuracy.
The investment will also save your employees’ productive hours from increasing the organisation’s overall efficiency. Many start-ups avoid heavy investment in technology as a measure to save capital. However, it is a common mistake as you can get funds from loans for the unemployed.
Upskill the Workforce
Employee’s skill development programme is an integral part of any organisation to enhance the quality and performance of their workforce. It is not limited to the technical skills required for the job. Many employers have increased their output by developing soft skills in their employees.
You can build leaders from the subordinates to manage the task on your behalf. But, again, not every task requires your supervision for its completion. Thus, organise training sessions, seminars, and meetings to up skill the employees within your organisation.
Outsource Tasks
A common myth about outsourcing is that it is for medium to large businesses. However, the cost of outsourcing some menial or even important task is within the budget of start-ups and small businesses. The service provider will manage the tasks while you can focus on more critical tasks.
You are a subject matter expert in your industry, but that doesn’t mean you will excel in the other departments in a business. Your business will outsource the process to a team of experts with years of experience. They may very well manage the process more effectively than someone you will hire after many rounds of interviews.
Another aspect of outsourcing is the money saved on resources and infrastructure. Thus, it is an overall cost-efficient solution for start-ups and small businesses with limited sources. For the finances, you can get business loans for bad credit to cover the cost.
Set Goals for Personal Life
Goals are the motivation towards spending time on a particular activity. For example, entrepreneurs are motivated by the organisational goals to grow their venture into a successful business. They can use the same strategy to start spending more time with their loved ones.
Set goals for your personal life to cut some hours from work. These can range from physical fitness to a list of adventures activities. The goal will allow your mind and body to recharge amid a stressful life.
Conclusion In the end, your passion for work should not make your personal life suffer. Unfortunately, many people forget the importance that spending time outside work is equally essential for their well-being. You can use the above strategies to cut the working hours to retain productivity and quality.