People say you should always have a personal life outside of your company or startup, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply certain business principles to your life. A lot of them can help you break harmful habits, reach your goals, lower your stress levels and even have a significant positive impact on your personal relationships if followed in a healthy manner. Here are three great business principles you can start applying to your life right now that’ll change your world forever.
Time Management
A person can lose money and get it back, but once you spend time, you can never get it back. The better you are at managing time, the more active and productive your life will be. A few simple ways you can improve your time management skills are setting realistic deadlines, creating bite-sized goals and not starting new ones until you finish your first one, not being afraid to ask for help when you need it and using a daily checklist.
You should also consider applying the 80/20 rule to maximize productivity. Also known as the Pareto principle, this idea states that 80 percent of output results from 20 percent of all causes. In simpler terms, this means that 80 percent of a company’s profits come from just 20 percent of the customers. Therefore, you should identify your most faithful customers and focus most of your energy on continuing to build their loyalty, saving yourself a lot of time in the process.
Continuous Improvement
The more versions you create of a product, the better it will be because you are improving it with every update. This is commonly discussed in manufacturing and regularly used by some of the biggest names in the industry. However, improvement isn’t just about working hard and doing things as fast as you can. It’s about creating a process that allows you to see the pros and cons of your last version and be able to apply that in your next draft. Therefore, patience and improvement go hand in hand.
Don’t Try to Be Perfect
Everybody wants the best possible results for their business. Unfortunately, a lot of people mistake perfection for success because when we typically see a successful company, it looks flawless. Humans are not perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. Even the wealthiest and most successful companies have had their fair share of failures and setbacks. It’s OK to fail. It can teach you invaluable lessons and make you stronger. You only truly fail when you give up and throw in the towel.
It is ideal to keep your personal life separate from your business, so you won’t overwork yourself. Still, there are several business principles you can implement, such as improving your time management skills, so you can meet deadlines without stress; staying motivated to improve and making progress in a timely fashion; and learning how to be OK with failure and setbacks. By following these rules, you are bound to improve in at least one area of your life.
Related: ‘The Highway To Happiness’
