As a business owner it can be challenging to make sure you are prioritizing your mental health when you have so many other things to manage and get done. However, prioritizing your health and wellness should be near the top of your list! When you’re not functioning at your best, you and your business could suffer.

Here are a few tips to help manage your mental health and avoid burnout as a business owner.

Create Work-Life Boundaries

Creating separation between your work life and your personal life is crucial, especially if you’ve transitioned to working from home during the past few months. How do you create work-life balance? With strong boundaries and routines.

Creating boundaries can look like setting up a designated work space within your home, only working between certain hours of the day, not replying to emails or client-related tasks on the weekends, and much more. These may vary depending on the type of business you own, so adjust accordingly but be sure to set some boundaries for yourself.

Get Outside

With the transition to working from home, many people have been spending more and more time inside than ever before. It’s important to get outside and breathe in some fresh air at least once a day.

Whether you do this by walking your dog, playing outside with your child or getting some self-care time in and going for a walk or run by yourself, it is important to schedule some time outside. Few things are as refreshing for our minds as a deep breath of fresh air.

Move Your Body

Another important thing to schedule into your routine on a regular basis to support your mental (and physical) health is moving your body. Most of us know that it is recommended to get at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity daily, however, this is often the last thing we check off on our to-do list if we check it off at all.

It is important to make the time to move your body in whatever way feels good and comfortable for you. For some, this might be 30-60 minutes at the gym lifting weights, doing a yoga class, or going to a spin class. Others might check off two things on their mental health checklist by going for a nice long walk. No matter how you do it, moving your body is proven to dramatically improve your mental health and reset you for whatever you might need to tackle next.

Unplug Daily

Being a business owner often means spending a large amount of time on devices every day. Zoom calls, sending emails, creating content, website edits, the list goes on. These things are important and need to be done in order to keep your business running, so it’s crucial that you make time in your daily routine to unplug from your devices.

Allowing (or forcing) yourself to have device free time is important! This should be a part of your work-life balance boundaries to ensure you’re truly unplugging from your work related tasks and mindset for a little while.

An easy way to unplug is to have a morning and/or evening routine that is device free. Starting or ending your day by reading a book, moving your body, or indulging in some self-care is a great way to unplug. It may require a conscious effort at first, but eventually will become a routine that you can’t break. Don't be hard on yourself! It can take time to get into these habits, but you’ll see an instant shift in your mental health.

Connect with Your Support System

Connecting with the people that support you is a great way to take care of your mental health. While these may be your confidants for all things business, try to not spend your whole conversation talking about business related things.

Spend time talking about non-work related topics such as your friends and family, hobbies, plans for the weekend or an upcoming vacation. While it’s great to be able to connect with them in regards to business related matters, it’s also important to build the relationship based on more personal details as well. Shifting your mindset and conversations away from business is not only beneficial to your mental health but also the mental health of your support system!

To learn more, register for our webinar on how to protect your mental health for business decision making.