It’s easy to become overworked when you believe you’re central to your business’s success. Here’s why business owners need to take breaks.
Business owners are always going to be extremely busy people – they’re in charge of everything, and if they step away for even a minute, it’s all going to fall apart. Or at least, that’s how a lot of business owners seem to look at things, but the truth is that their businesses might actually do a lot better if they did take a break every once in a while, and it would definitely benefit the business owner themselves.
If you run a business and you’re feeling exhausted because you tell yourself you can’t take a break (whether that’s a 10-minute break a few times a day or a week off so you can get away from it all and relax), keep reading because once you see how important a break can be, you’ll be more likely to schedule some in.
Here’s why business owners need to take breaks, and how they can use this time away from work effectively.
Better Problem-Solving Skills
When you take a break and stop staring at a problem that you don’t seem to be able to solve, your brain becomes a lot freer, and you’re more likely to come up with the answer. It might sound counterintuitive to stop thinking about a solution if you want to find a solution, but it really does work.
The key is to do something completely different from whatever the issue was. That might be playing an online game at Fruityking.co.nz, going outside for a walk and some fresh air, doing some exercise, listening to some music, or calling a friend for a chat, for example. By the time you’re finished on your break, your mind will be clearer and in many cases, the solution to the problem will be right in front of you.
Better Productivity
You might think that it makes sense to keep pushing yourself non-stop when you’re a business owner (or even if you just want to be as productive as possible in your career, for example), but it doesn’t work like that. Instead, if you just keep going when you’re tired, hungry, or anything else, you’ll get less and less productive, and even if you do manage to get a lot done, the work probably won’t be of a very high quality.
When you take a break (about ten minutes every hour or so is ideal), you can reset your mind and your body (especially if you have a drink of water and a healthy snack during your break). Even though you’ve taken time away from your work, it’s highly likely you’ll be able to work harder after a break, making up for lost time and ending up with a better quality final product.
Stress Reduction
Stress is a terrible thing and something that can cause all kinds of problems in someone’s life – if they’re chronically stressed, it can lead to things like heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, anxiety, and depression, to name just a few issues. Plus, even if it doesn’t have the potential to lead to health problems, being stressed means you can’t enjoy your life to the fullest, so it’s really something to avoid at all costs.
When you take breaks at work, you can help to de-stress yourself, and that’s always a positive thing. If you find yourself getting stressed, angry, upset, or anything else, walk away from whatever it is that’s causing the problem. Take some deep breaths, get outside in the sunshine, get something to eat, do some exercise, or anything else. Your stress levels will be reduced and you’ll feel a lot better.
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