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Why overworking may kill your startup?

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Entrepreneurs should learn to leave work behind and recharge themselves by relaxing, indulging in their favourite hobbies or sports and spending quality time with family and friends

Most entrepreneurs believe that their startups are their babies, and spend endless of hours every day nurturing it. Every waking minute goes thinking about the startup, and sometimes even while sleeping (dreaming about it!). Moreover, owing a scarcity of resources, they try and do everything themselves.

No doubt, enthusiasm and passion play a pivotal role in driving an entrepreneur towards their vision, but it’s also very important to know the limitations of your own body, because after a point, you’ll completely be burned out, and this in turn, will prove counterproductive for your startup.

Being over-stressed and burned-out leads to a lack of ideas as well as health problems, including depression, in the long run. The key is to work ‘smarter’, and not necessarily ‘harder’.

Take time to step back and look at the bigger picture

It is vital for entrepreneurs to take a step back from their business, and look at the bigger picture. While you may be working hard it is important to assess that there may be something’s that you need to change to get better results. If you keep yourself over-occupied with day-to-day work, it’ll be difficult for you to disengage and find time to do some ‘real thinking’, that can be instrumental in taking your startup closer to its vision.

Prioritise

It is important to prioritise things rather than focus on everything at the same time. That way your efforts will get diluted and not yield the desired results. Also, multi-tasking doesn’t work well all the time. By focussing on one task at a time, you are likely to get better results.

Learn to delegate

It’s impossible to do everything yourself, so it is imperative for you to learn to delegate. In fact, if you delegate to the right person with the right expertise, they may even do an even better job of executing that work than you.

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So, hire the right people, recognise their strengths, and your job will become much easier. While being passionate about your company is important, it is equally important to find the right people who are as excited or passionate about your company to get things done.

By delegating you can free up some time for yourself and focus on other important aspects of your business.

Take a break

All work and no play will only leave you exhausted. You need time to unwind, so you can come back rejuvenated and with fresh ideas. Learn to meditate, this can give you a few seconds of peace to refocus, and become more productive. Meditating for a few minutes each day can help in improving your focus and memory as well as improve your mental health.

Overworking can leave you drained and sap all your energy and creativity. Entrepreneurs should, therefore, learn to leave work behind, and recharge themselves by relaxing, indulging in their favourite hobbies or sports and spending quality time with family and friends.

Schedule your day

It is important to keep day-end deadlines, and avoid working till odd hours everyday. Working 14-16 hours day can have a negative impact on your physical as well as mental health. It’s best to work in your most productive hours (can vary for every individual, so pick the time that works best for you), whether it’s early morning or during the day.

Also Read: Startup mentality is not bound by age: Venu Ambati of ALLDOX

Just like you set clear goals and deadlines for others, it’s important to set them for yourselves too and stick to them. With better clarity, you’ll be more focussed in your approach and not get distracted with everything that comes your way. This will help keep overworking in check and will prevent you from getting burned out.

Make work fun

Being an entrepreneur comes with its own set of stressors. With a constant battle for resources and endless targets to meet to realise the ‘big dream’, over a period of time, most entrepreneurs forget the fun in starting their own company.

However, by doing small things like having a weekend coffee party or just having an hour each week to unwind will help you as well as your employees. It will also help in boosting the morale of your team, thus ensuring better job engagement, and give you a better pulse of what is happening at the ground level.

Conclusion

Overdoing anything can be bad, even if it has anything to do with work. Overstressing yourself will only burn you out and hamper your productivity in the long run. That’s why it’s important to strike the right work-life balance. While maintaining a work-life balance may seem like a distant dream for entrepreneurs when they are building their startups from the ground up, it is noteworthy that defining clear boundaries between personal and professional life can be the key to become more productive, healthy and successful in the long run.

The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your article here.

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