Giving up a regular 9 to 5 and starting your own business can be a breath of fresh air in the career world. However, those new to entrepreneurship are likely to throw their all into their new venture. While that sounds like a good idea, in around 6 months’ time those same passionate people will completely burn out!

After all, being your own boss still requires you to maintain a work life balance. For anyone new to being self-employed, here are some tips to both staying productive and taking a break when you need one. 

Look at Your Weekly Hours

How many hours are you working in your self-employed venture? Because if you’re still putting in 40 or more hours, even though you’re not selling labor to someone else, you could be exhausting yourself without even needing to. You’ve got nothing to prove now you’re your own boss!

You have a company name and registration, a website to build, social media to maintain, and products or a service to deliver, but you’re allowed to take your time to get all these set up. You don’t want to rush or push yourself too hard; you need to make a difference, and that means treating your time right. 

Measure Your Productivity Differently

This is a good follow on to the point above. Time on the clock shouldn’t be the main KPI you measure your success by. After all, who knows what’s actually getting done during this time? You could have 40+ hours on the clock at the end of the week, but how much have you actually got done? It’s simply an unreliable way to see your productivity, and you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you continue to use it. You could get the same amount done in 2 hours as you do in 8! 

Take Your Lunch Break

You need to have a proper lunch if you want to get back to work with plenty of energy. You can’t skip it or use it for addressing extraneous tasks. Even successful entrepreneurs like Jonathan Martin NFL would urge you to have a proper lunch break instead of working your way through it! You need fuel for the rest of the day and a chance to clear your head. Without a daily lunch break, that just isn’t going to happen. 

Know the Signs of Burnout

Burnout can be very pervasive. You might not even realize you’re dealing with it until you read this right now. If you find it hard to get up for work in the morning, you feel grumpy in the office and snap at those around you, and it’s hard to concentrate for more than a couple minutes at a time, you’re burnt out! And that means you need a break, and to seriously reconsider your work/life balance. 

If you’re newly self-employed, this is the post for you. Your time is valuable, and you deserve to have time at home when you need it.