When you’re a business leader, you often work a million miles a minute putting out fires and maintaining the current and future health of your company. With your attention pulled in all different directions, you’re forced to balance major decisions with minor ones, all while trying to find time to complete your usual day-to-day schedule. These daily demands can be a lot to handle, and it’s not uncommon for leaders to feel overwhelmed or burned out from tackling these duties.
If you feel like you’re struggling to manage your workload as a leader, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their advice. Here, they discuss the best tips they’d give any leader struggling to keep up with the daily demands of leadership and what has worked for them as leaders of their own companies.
1. Define A Clear Strategy
If you are putting out a lot of fires, it may mean you don’t have a clear strategy. Nailing your strategy helps to clarify what is important and what isn’t. Then, you can stop fighting fires and start leading your team to success. – David Boehl, TravelSite.io
2. Assemble A Dream Team
Assemble a dream team—a group of talented individuals who complement your strengths and fill in the gaps where you might stumble. Together, you can form a force to be reckoned with, tackling challenges with collective expertise. On top of that, seek out like-minded peers and fellow business leaders who understand the unique struggles and triumphs you face. – Abhijeet Kaldate, Astra WordPress Theme
3. Condense Tasks To Two Lists
Make two lists every morning. First: What’s the priority for the day? Write just three items. Include urgent tasks only. Second: What’s the one action you will take to improve your business? It could be something as big as changing your standard operating procedures or something as small as holding a meeting. Maintaining these two lists will ensure you’re putting out fires and growing at the same time without burning out. – Candice Georgiadis, Digital Day
4. Master Time Blocking
For leaders wrestling with daily demands, my advice is to master time blocking. Assign specific time slots for different tasks—strategic thinking, team meetings and even fighting fires. This structure helps you focus on one task at a time, reducing the mental strain of multitasking. It’s helped me maintain balance amid the chaos. Prioritization and focus are key for sustainable leadership. – Devesh Dwivedi, Higher Valuation
5. Try Monotasking
Let go of the urge to multitask. Research shows that being a master multitasker actually makes you less efficient and more prone to mistakes. Instead of forcing yourself to work against the brain’s natural tendency to do one thing at a time, try monotasking instead. What has worked for me is setting up “power hours” where I work diligently on putting out one fire before moving on to the next. – Bryce Welker, Crush The EA Exam
6. Get An Early Start
Get up early. This will give you time to prepare for the day’s torrent of demands and the ability to address them in a more organized and less reactive manner. More importantly, this will help reduce stress as you will feel more in control over your schedule. – Jack Perkins, CFO Hub
7. Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable
I’d advise business leaders who struggle to manage the daily demand that they should learn to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Running a business requires commitment and dedication. So, in order to keep up with the demands and meet the expectations of your customers or investors, it’s important for you to go the extra mile. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
8. Tackle One Problem At A Time
The best way to manage your business and solve all the little problems that pop up daily is to focus on one issue at a time. If you stretch yourself too thin, you’ll make unwise decisions that could cost you down the line. I advise creating a workflow for day-to-day activities and roadblocks so you can systematically solve them before they become a bigger problem. – Daman Jeet Singh, FunnelKit
9. Prioritize Your Self-Care
Business leaders must protect their time and prioritize their health. While you should make yourself available to put out fires and maintain operations, you can’t allow every hurdle the company faces to derail your productivity. Ensuring you get quality sleep, plenty of water, exercise and healthy food will also help decrease your stress levels and better equip your mind to handle surprises. – Ian Blair, BuildFire
