Top business and career coaches from Forbes Coaches Council offer firsthand insights on leadership development & careers.
As an entrepreneur, it is your job to make sure your business runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible. It can be addictive to throw yourself into the role and work day and night to make sure your business succeeds. You may have a strong drive or unstoppable motivation that powers you forward, but at what cost?
You need to understand that your business will survive even if you don’t have a 24/7 watch on it. Working relentlessly can only cause you stress and prevent you from being there when you are really needed. According to statistics compiled by Brandon Gaille, workaholics that average 11 hours a day or more have a 67% greater chance of suffering from coronary heart disease. As staggering as this statistic is, it should be a real wake-up call that you need to take a step back.
Fifteen members of Forbes Coaches Council share why entrepreneurs tend to be workaholics and the advice they have for them, ranging from the ability to prioritize tasks to practicing meditation, confronting your fear, or simply outsourcing some of your projects.
1. Arrange Schedule By Activities
Anyone determined to reach a goal can be seen as a workaholic. Is it being a workaholic or passionate? It’s helpful to arrange your week by activities instead of by office hours. For example, Monday – business building, Tuesday – client calls, Wednesday – social media scheduling/client calls, etc. This way you’re not tied to hours and can schedule a day off, if there is such a thing. – Niya Allen-Vatel, Career Global
2. Focus On Eulogy Virtues
David Brooks speaks of eulogy virtues — those virtues that we want to be remembered by. These can be different from resume virtues — those virtues that bring us professional success. But they need not be. Entrepreneurs tend to be workaholics because they can see the impact they want to leave behind, but can forget the bigger picture. Eulogy virtues will show you the big picture priorities. – Maureen Cunningham, Up Until Now Inc.
3. Work On The Business, Not In It
As much as an entrepreneur wants to get their hands dirty, there is only so much they can accomplish by doing that. A great entrepreneur can only succeed when he or she has the time to work on the business, not in the business. Working on the business is essentially doing the right thing, taking a step back, looking at the business and working on it. – KarFei Cheah, Mindvalley
4. Create Structure To Your Day
Entrepreneurs are visionaries and they want to create. They also want to wear all the hats and do all the things required to get a business off the ground. To avoid overworking, create structure to your day, find an accountability partner to track goals and progress and hire great talent when you’re able to. Just because you can do everything doesn’t mean you should. – Lizabeth Czepiel, Lizabeth Czepiel, LLC
5. Try Daily Journaling Sessions
Overwork is an indication that vision, desire and direction aren’t fully formed (or trusted): Entrepreneurs try to “hedge their bets” by juggling dozens of projects, income streams, gigs, even book ideas, all at once. The result? Nothing gets done. To better attune to instinct, intuition, and desire, I recommend daily journaling sessions first thing in the morning. Sense first, act second! – Dave Ursillo, DaveUrsillo.com