Entrepreneurs can develop some pretty bad work habits without even noticing it, such as ignoring “big picture” thinking time or sticking to tasks they should be delegating. It’s important to take stock of your daily activities from time to time to make sure your lifestyle and business needs are being met.
Certain “bad habits” can easily lead to entrepreneurial burnout, so if you notice any practices or behaviors that are draining you, now might be a good time to change them. To this end, a panel of https://cafe-madrid.com/ Business Council members share some bad habits that every entrepreneur should eliminate from their daily routine.
Members pictured from left to right.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Don’t schedule ‘thinking time’
As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to get into the mode of solving problems, closing deals, managing a team, etc. All of this is necessary, but not at the cost of “thinking time,” which I define as the focused time you gives yourself to consider big challenges and important strategic initiatives. – Shavonnah Schreiber, SNR Creative
2. Having FOMO or envy
Being jealous of others will get you nowhere. Focus on what you can control and how you can win. Most importantly, focus on your employees and customers. The rest takes care of itself. – Vivek Joshi, Entytle, Inc.
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3. Confuse activity with productivity
Focus on work that moves your business forward and eliminate or automate routine, low-value activities that divert your attention from growing the business and improving your value proposition. – Lowell Smith, IRALOGIX, Inc.
4. Procrastinating and Missing Deadlines
Procrastination can be a big problem for entrepreneurs. It can lead to missed deadlines and missed opportunities and can cause a lot of stress in the long run. To avoid this, entrepreneurs should strive to create and stick to a daily routine, and create systems to keep them on track. They also need to learn to recognize when they procrastinate and take steps to break the habit. – Ritesha Dalal, Intellectual
5. Keeping to-do lists we never complete
How demotivating is it to never feel fulfilled? For those with a running list of things from a year ago, please delete them all. Every day we have a certain number of hours to complete our tasks. If those hours are filled before we wake up, we will never be open to new opportunities and what today has to offer. – Jennifer Koy, Beauty care choices
6. Not taking time to recharge
Entrepreneurship is a journey that requires constant growth, learning and adaptation. It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of running a business, but if you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t keep up. – Rakesh Soni, LoginRadius
7. Neglecting your personal life
The habit that many entrepreneurs struggle with is working overtime and neglecting their personal lives. This can be dangerous, as it can lead to burnout, exhaustion, and a lack of focus. To avoid this, we need to prioritize our time and create boundaries between work and personal life. That means setting fixed working hours and taking time for yourself outside of that. – Eric Pam, Health channel
8. Make all the decisions
Entrepreneurs need to change the mindset that they have to be at the center of every decision as this leads to overload and burnout. This is hard to do every day because driven entrepreneurs are passionate about what they are working on. – Jacques Lane, The book advisor
9. Check emails before bed
As an entrepreneur, we let every part of our business consume us, both good and bad. Reading emails at night can almost guarantee a sleepless night or sending emails without thinking first. When we take some sacred time to unwind, we wake up with a clearer head. – Laura silver, Blue door communication
10. Only manage tasks
A bad habit that every entrepreneur should eliminate is doing tasks yourself. Your ability to delegate is important if you want to scale your business. Free yourself from that hamster wheel through automation and delegation so you can focus on more revenue-generating activities. – Paul Stepanov, Virtudesk
11. Stress and not set goals
Doing this will only take away your target, prove the competition right, and stress you out if you fall behind. Learning every day is good, but implementing it and expecting results from it too early will harm any entrepreneur. – Neha Madaan, vanator
12. Not focusing on positive habits
Self-doubt prohibits entrepreneurs who are on the verge of a breakthrough. Believing in yourself, being surrounded by positive energy, having an exercise routine, and learning from others when the going gets tough are all key to overcoming a lack of confidence. By staying focused on what one is good at and developing positive habits, entrepreneurs can stave off negative feelings and self-doubt that arise daily. – Emilia D’Anzica, Grow Molecules
13. Being critical of yourself
Don’t allow a negative perspective and negative self-talk to rule your day-to-day story. Because of this, every task, decision, new venture, and more can easily seem daunting and overwhelming, a major contributor to burnout. It will also bleed throughout the company to lower team morale, stifle productivity and limit growth. – Melanie Amberman, VaVa virtual assistants
14. Start your day on the phone
Waking up and going straight to your phone is not the way to wake up and start your day. Wake up, have a routine, and practice self-care to get yourself ready for the day ahead. Start positive by waking up at 4 or 5 a.m., exercising, eating, meditating, and reading. Do this and you’ll be mentally ready to take on whatever new challenges the day has in store for you. – Kir Linington, Linear Roofing and General Contractors, LLC
15. Multitask
Very, very few people can multitask well and most of us just do poorly on multiple projects. Single tasking is what it’s all about. Get as far as you can with one project before handing it over to anyone. Only then should you jump to the next thing on your to-do list. – Ty Allen, SocialClimb
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