When you own a business, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day: from ensuring jobs get done, to checking employees and customers are happy. That’s before we even factor in our families, let alone ourselves.

But when we don’t take care of ourselves too, it can take a toll on the quality we operate at, affecting business productivity and ultimately profitability.

Here are some tips to take care of yourself and your business:

Give yourself a tech break

Technology addiction is impacting our productivity, our bodies and our well being. How often do you pick up your smartphone to have a quick look and find yourself mid-scroll half an hour later, having achieved nothing in the meantime? We’ve all been there.

Start by switching off your tech at night and make your bedroom a tech-free zone for a better night’s sleep. Schedule time for work without any distractions as well as time for ‘distractions’ like social engagement.

Home-Happiness-Hacks

If you’re a business owner and a parent, you’ll know these can be two of life’s most satisfying challenges. But doing both at the same time can leave you clinging to your sanity.

Technology can help by automating some of your business and home life activities. Invest in tools that are available to sync and organize your calendar and to-do lists. The prep time will be worth the hours it saves in the long-run.

Think about bringing in some extra help at home. I consider outsourcing an investment in my sanity and my marriage. This could mean employing a cleaner or paying a student to do your gardening, ironing, laundry or even picking up the kids.

Take time to reconnect with your vision

When productivity drops it’s usually when you’ve lost sight of your vision. Sometime we need to give ourselves some space and time to get back to our big-picture objectives and purpose. Is that the opposite of what you feel like you need to be doing? Then it’s probably exactly what you need to do. Take a break outside of your business to create some space and reconnect with your vision and where you’re heading.

Focus on what you love

Work doesn’t feel like work when you truly enjoy what you do. Delegate or outsource those things you procrastinate or know are not in your zone of genius — there’s no shame in not doing everything yourself. Spend your time doing what you love and do best. Some planning or reorganizing of your company roles can do wonders for productivity.

Building a customer-focused business takes hard work and personal investment. There will always be an abundance of tasks to keep your business running, and continual pressure, from yourself and from others. But the payoff for a business owner can be absolutely worth all those pressures if you make sure to take care of yourself along the way.

Find out more about how you can take control of your time and business with an integration between Timely and Xero here.