As an entrepreneur it can be tempting to work throughout the weekend cramming in all those things that you wanted to get done the week before, but didn’t. However, new studies from Stanford University have shown that working over 50 hours a week actually causes your productivity levels drop dramatically (and can lead to a ‘burn out’ situation). This isn’t what you want when your business is counting on you.
Entrepreneurship is all about negotiating your time wisely and how productive you are when you are working, not how long you work. And whilst their can be some guilt involved in stepping away from your business, even if it’s only for a few days, try to remember; your wellbeing is just as important as your work, if not more. If you want to be successful you need to know how to look after yourself. You need to be able to take time out to refresh your brain, or else you’ll just end up frazzled and stressed.
Refreshing your mind doesn’t even have to stretch to going abroad either. Instead, it can involve something as simple as taking the weekend to do something that you enjoy, or spending time with your family. It turns out that those 48 hours of “free time” really do make a difference. Here’s why:
You’ll be more motivated to continue after taking some time out. However passionate you are about your start-up and what you are doing, if you never get a break from it, you’ll get worn down. It’s easy to shrug this off in the beginning, but eventually it will take its toll. When this happens, it becomes difficult to remember why you started in the beginning and you lose that original passion and motivation. Taking time out however, helps you regain perspective and motivates you to move forward.
Taking time to do other things can often lead to sparks of inspiration.
Getting out of your comfort zone and doing things that you wouldn’t normally fires up different parts of the brain. When these parts of the brain become fired up, you begin to make connections where you didn’t before and it’s not uncommon to start thinking of new ideas and strategies, which is great for entrepreneurs.
A refreshed mind means refreshed problem solving capabilities.
Staring at a problem doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to solve it. Instead, leading on from the previous comment on inspiration, taking a break can enable you to make new connections thus boosting your problem-solving skills and helping you to better carry out the tasks needed.
