How to Build (and Maintain) Positive Habits as a Founder

Hard work is a crucial part of building a successful business, but that’s not all that matters. What you spend your time on is just as crucial as the amount of effort you put in. That’s why it’s so important for entrepreneurs to develop — and stick with — positive habits.

When you’re busy building a business, it’s easy to get so focused on marking tasks off your to-do list that you miss opportunities to grow your business or neglect necessary self-care. Staying out of that vicious cycle (so you can become even more successful) starts with fine-tuning your daily habits.

How to Build Key Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs

Ready to integrate more positive habits into your day-to-day, but not sure where to start? Don’t sweat it — we’ve got your back with helpful ideas and tips for small business founders.

Network on the Regular

Are you as well-connected as you could be? If most of your business contacts are people you’ve known for a while, and you’re not actively seeking to make new connections on a regular basis, business networking might be a great habit to focus on building.

Being well-connected is important for small business owners. Building your network can help you find new customers, employees, vendors, or referral sources. Not only that, but connections can also help build your company’s brand and establish you as a leader in your community and/or industry.

It doesn’t take a ton of networking to build up this positive habit. Try one (or more) of these approaches:

• Join a relevant business group and/or industry association and commit to participating in at least one meeting or activity every month.

• When you hear about an opportunity that might benefit someone in your network, reach out to share the opportunity or make an introduction.

• Get involved with an entrepreneur-focused MasterMind group in your local area or join one that meets virtually.

• Build your virtual network via LinkedIn by connecting with contacts you make in real-life. It’s helpful to connect shortly after meeting them, and it doesn’t hurt to begin commenting on their posts and sharing helpful content with them.

• Identify a charity that matters to you or that’s important to your customers or industry, and then get involved by joining a committee, attending a fundraiser, or volunteering for a special project.

Seek Out Opportunities to Learn

The most successful small business owners are often lifelong learners. The more you learn, the more you’ll know — and the better prepared you’ll be to continue building and growing your business.

From learning more about small business best practices, to growing as a leader or keeping up with changing tech in your industry, there are always opportunities to increase your knowledge. You don’t have to go back to school, or spend more time studying than working, to get into the habit of learning. It can be as simple as trying some of these options:

• When choosing networking activities, opt for things like conferences or workshops that have educational components.

• Enroll in a self-paced training program that’ll help you master key business-building skills, like Google’s free fundamentals of digital marketing class.

• Ask your network for ideas of books to read (another great way to combine networking and learning!) and make a list of titles to work through.

• Listen to audiobooks while you’re commuting, traveling, or handling tasks that don’t require concentration — like organizing or cleaning your workspace.

• Keep a reading app on your phone so it’s easy to read any time you’ve got some downtime (like when waiting for appointments or standing in line).

Prioritize Your Own Wellness

We get it — you’re busy! Your business needs you. But that doesn’t mean you should neglect yourself. Taking care of both your physical and mental health is an important part of taking care of your business.

Self-care is necessary for everyone, even entrepreneurs. Remember: you’re not wasting time when you’re working on yourself. After all, your business doesn’t work without you!

When it comes to taking care of yourself, even small efforts can make a big difference. Build a wellness habit by:

• Getting enough sleep on a regular basis. This can mean going to bed around the same time each evening, or adjusting your wake-up time based on how late you stayed up.

• Boosting your activity level. Whether that means structured workouts, walking meetings, or stretch breaks during the workday, do something that gets you moving.

• Including active activities when making plans with family or friends. This can include things like exploring the great outdoors with your favorite people or a friendly competition. Pickleball, anyone?

• Reducing the temptation to grab less-than-healthy food by prepping healthy meals at home for the workweek and stocking your office fridge with nutritious grab-and-go items.

• Scheduling time for regular self-care, whatever that looks like for you. Book a monthly massage or spa day, connect with a counselor, or get some meditation time in.

Make Time to Unplug

When you own your own business, it’s tempting to stay tuned in to your devices 24/7, especially if you work remotely. But ask yourself — is that really the best use of your time? Burnout is a real consequence of working around the clock. To avoid it, everybody needs to unplug sometimes, even eternally-busy entrepreneurs.

Now, unplugging doesn’t just mean transferring your attention from the computer on your desk to your mobile device. It means truly disconnecting. Not forever, of course, but disconnecting for a period of time allows you to enjoy some screen-free relaxation.

You don’t have to stay unplugged for a long stretch of time (but you can if you want — you’re the boss!). Try these strategies to get in the habit of unplugging a little (or a lot) more:

• Shut your computer down when you’re officially done working for the day. Doing this helps you avoid being tempted to keep doing “just one more thing” until all your downtime is gone.

• Set boundaries (and hold yourself to them!) when it comes to work check-ins during your downtime. Allow yourself the time and space to truly focus on your friends, family, or yourself.

• When you’re done with work for the day, leave your devices behind (or at least silence notifications). Let yourself fully relax, hit the gym, go out to dinner, or do whatever else you want to do without distraction.

• Set up an after-hours auto-reply to let people know when they can expect to hear from you. This can help minimize the feeling that you need to check messages during your downtime.

• Adjust the notifications on your devices so you’re not interrupted by a ring, ding, buzz, or flash during the times you’ve set aside to unplug.

Build and Maintain One Positive Habit at a Time

You have the power to create a foundation of success for your business — and your life — by building and maintaining positive habits. Whether you’re a new founder or an experienced entrepreneur, making small changes is an important step to building positive habits, and consistency is key to maintaining them.

Once you choose a positive habit to build into your day-to-day routine, and you get comfortable with doing it, decide what positive habit to pick up next. Whether you adopt some of the habits of successful entrepreneurs listed above, or you’re inspired to make other small changes that can make a big difference, you’re sure to benefit both personally and professionally.