How to Stay Motivated When Running a Business

When running a business, it can be easy to lose motivation. However, you can take steps to inspire yourself and bring it back.

• Surround yourself with motivational people

This can mean your friends, family, or co-workers, attending local events, networking with other businesses and speaking to business mentors. If you don't, you will struggle to push yourself. Sometimes all you need is that little push from someone!

• Focus on yourself
  When running a business, looking after yourself physically and mentally is vital. If you don't, you'll quickly become demotivated and struggle. The best way to help yourself is to set simple tasks that consist of:

-       Eating healthy foods

If you are eating healthy, it will make you feel better and can put you in a better mood.

-       Develop healthier habits such as exercising regularly or meditation.

-       Set a daily routine

By setting a daily routine, you have a schedule you can follow and will feel much more productive. You may forget to have breaks or complete specific tasks if you leave it.

-       Go places/socialise!

If you spend all your time on your business and don't set aside time to focus on going places, you'll feel low and become unmotivated. Talking to friends, family, or co-workers is also vital. If not, you'll start to feel lonely.

• Focus on your goals

Set yourself goals, so you constantly try to reach a particular stage. By doing this, you'll push yourself and gain motivation. Once you completed your goal, set new ones!

• Learn from your failures

Every single business owner has had mess-ups. You shouldn't become sad because of these; you should learn from those mistakes and improve.

• Sleep

Running a business is time-consuming, and most people work through the night. A good night's sleep can help an incredible amount when it comes to motivation, and you shouldn't take that for granted.

A few ways to increase sleep are:

• Decrease caffeine and alcohol intake
• Create a night routine
• Stop using your phone or laptop before bed
• Take power naps. If you sleep for 90mins then when you wake up, you won’t feel as fatigued or tired as before. This is because 90mins is 1 sleep cycle.

• Treat yourself!

By treating yourself after working, you'll gain motivation. Whether that's some new clothes, going to the cinema or going out for a meal. If it makes you happy and proud of yourself, then it's something you should do.

• Environment

f you are working in a dark and dull workspace, you won’t feel motivated when working. Make sure your room is well-lit and tidy. Try adding colours, pictures and personalised touches like your own figures or stickers. It’s also good to have one on one meetings every now and then at a local coffee house. These simple steps can make a massive difference and motivate you

'''For me, staying motivated at work is about working on yourself physically and mentally. It's also about thinking of your end goal, and sometimes dealing with the day-to-day tasks can be demotivating because it's relentless. You're so zoomed into what you're doing that you forget the big picture; only when you take a step back is when you realise how far you as a person and your business have truly come. For me, taking that step back ignites the light and motivates me to keep pushing.''

- Priya Pandit