Running a small business requires the owner to often times work long hours everyday, to handle almost all of the day-to-day tasks, and having to sacrifice their weekends and time with their families or friends. If this is a continuous trend, the business owner will almost certainly begin to start feeling overworked or burnt out, which can be avoided with a little planning, organization and delegation. Below are some tips for small business owners on how to avoid becoming burnt out.
Categorize tasks: As a small business owner, the amount of tasks that need to get done are endless, so it is important to categorize tasks (such as most important, somewhat important or not important)and then once you have an outline of your tasks, you can focus on completing the most important ones first, then the others after that.
Complete the most difficult/unpleasant tasks first: if you know you have something to take care of that you don’t particularly enjoy doing, its best to figure out a game plan for getting that job done first, that way you won’t be dreading it or avoid it and once it’s done you can focus on other tasks. Plus, once It’s done you should feel less stressed knowing that task is completed.
Set work hours: As a business owner, it is very easy to work non-stop while trying to get everything done. But in order to prevent burnout, it is important to establish a fixed time or hour that you are going to stop working. That could be by forcing yourself to walk out of the office at6 p.m. or turning off your phone or computer at 8 p.m. Doing so will allow you to wind down for the day and relax. Setting aside time with your family (even if it’s just eating dinner with them) or on personal hobbies may also help to prevent burnout.
Delegation of tasks: Given the (seemingly) million tasks a small business owner has on their plate every day can seem and feel daunting, which could easily and quickly cause burnout, it is important to delegate or assign some of the less important tasks to employees who are capable of handling those. Employees may not perform tasks exactly how you would do them yourself but the extra time you’ll gain from having employees do some of these tasks will allow you to handle more important tasks. However, if you need to hire an additional employee to handle certain tasks, go for it. Even though it will be an added expense, think about the time that this will free up to allow you to do other tasks or spend with family.
A business owner could also establish boundaries and not take on EVERY SINGLE REQUEST. Burnout is almost certainly going to happen at some point if you say yes to every request thrown at you. That is why its important to get comfortable with saying no to requests that take up too much time or less important tasks (you can always delegate those to employees).Remember that saying no allows you to say yes to the requests that you want to complete.
Establish positive work environment: Establishing a positive work environment and working relationships with employees can be helpful in preventing burnout, as having a workplace you enjoy going to everyday and working with people you get along with can make work feel less daunting or stressful.
