Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. It’s likely the hardest thing you’ll ever do (if it were easy everyone would be an entrepreneur). To be successful as an entrepreneur, it’s absolutely essential you create routines to help you balance your workload with your personal life. Let’s take a look at 5 successful habits of an entrepreneur.

PLAN FOR TOMORROW 

As an entrepreneur your time is precious. One way to maximize your time is to plan the next day’s schedule today. Don’t worry, this won’t take long. Simply sit down and write out a plan for how you plan on taking on the next day.

Don’t just write out the important work that needs to be finished — also write out what you plan to eat, when to pick up the kids, etc. That way when you get up the next morning, you won’t have to waste time planning out your day when you’re feeling groggy in the morning.

FOCUS ON YOUR PERSONAL HEALTH 

As an entrepreneur, it can be easy to get so focused on your work that you begin to neglect your personal health. Warming up top ramen, for example, is far cheaper and much quicker to prepare than a full on salad with all the fixings. However, not taking time to prepare that salad can come back and bite you in the butt a few years down the line when you’re dealing with heart disease.

Successful entrepreneurs recognize their personal health is just as important as growing their business. Therefore, successful entrepreneurs tend to workout early in the morning, go on jogs, take breaks throughout the day to eat healthy, etc. Creating healthy routines every day ultimately gives you more energy and allows you to work that much harder.

SCHEDULE PERIODS OF DEEP WORK

Life is full of distractions. Between emails, TV, YouTube, cell phones and family it’s a wonder we get anything done. This is why the most successful entrepreneurs schedule periods of “deep work.” This involves scheduling a specific amount of time, let’s a two-hour session, where you separate yourself from all distractions and concentrate your full attention on your work.

You’ll be amazed at how much you can get done when your attention is completely and utterly focused on your work. Procrastination and distractions are the death of productivity. It helps to set a timer when scheduling periods of deep work. The timer will help to keep you accountable when you’re tempted to deviate from your work and distract yourself with emails, text messages or anything else.

TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

Successful entrepreneurs tend to keep track of their progress.They write down their goals and dreams and then write down when these goals and dreams change. They also write down their daily progress.

You may not see much change in the beginning, but given the course of a few months, you can have a visible reminder of where you were versus where you are now. Successful entrepreneurs use this information to keep themselves encouraged as they continue to struggle on. This information can also be used to tweak processes that have yet to show improvement.

START YOUR DAY WITH THE HARDEST TASK

Every day there’s always that one monstrously large task that will leave you drained by the time you’re finished. Successful entrepreneurs focus on the hardest tasks first to get them out of the way.

Not only will you feel a sense of accomplishment by the time you’re finished, but the rest of your tasks will seem simple in comparison. It also stops you from procrastinating on the things that truly matter.

SETTING UP SUCCESSFUL HABITS IN YOUR OWN LIFE

Do you practice any of these successful habits? If not, it’s okay. You can always start today. Don’t make excuses and put your nose to the grindstone. Entrepreneurship can be challenging which is why it works to have processes in place to help you sharpen your focus and pinpoint what matters in your life.  If you want to learn more about 5 Successful Habits of an Entrepreneur go to annettapowell.com