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3 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Prioritize Personal Development

I wanted to keep learning as an entrepreneur, but I couldn’t buckle down to do it until I made adjustments to my routine and schedule.

When I made the decision to pursue my side business full-time in late 2013, I wasn’t afraid of failing. I had spent two years preparing for the risk financially and emotionally. I understood that these outcomes were simply “part of the game.”

What scared me was this: I was walking away from an employer who always prioritized my learning — regularly funding me to attend trainings and conferences. Not to mention, I was leaving a team that taught me something new, every single day.

Over the next few months, my content business ramped up. I found myself with less and less free time — working 14-hour days, missing out on time with friends, and spending my waking hours growing my company and not letting my health slide. I was learning on the job, but found myself wanting more opportunities than the days would enable. It was a tough balance to strike.

One of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned about growing my business is that it’s important to set up processes early — to streamline as many initiatives as possible so the company is always moving forward. Now, I see the same philosophy applies to my personal learning milestones as well. Here are some steps I have taken to bring learning back into my journey:

 

1. Let your calendar be your sword

Up until recently, my calendar has been perpetually full. My natural inclination is to take meetings with everyone, but I simply can’t anymore. To sanity-check my niceness in scheduling, I’ve actually hired an assistant as a reinforcer.

 

Photo: © Boggy, YFS Magazine

She’s helped me carve out more free time — blocks that I have begun using to learn. I read books, am learning about film and video, and attend classes that fit within certain windows. This structure helps me reflect on everything that I have going on, while giving me the space to do what I love most. It’s the best gift that I could have given myself.

 

2. Learn outside of your comfort zone

As the sole founder of a small but mighty company, I live and breathe everything related to business (especially the things that I don’t enjoy, like accounting, legal and other random bits of paperwork). At first, I wanted to learn about anything and everything by taking classes on these topics.

It was mentally exhausting. I burned out. I realized it was a better use of my time to hire experts in these fields including a CPA and lawyer. I don’t regret the decision.

 

Entrepreneurship stress causes hair loss
Photo: © golubovy, YFS Magazine

Now, I try to learn about things that are largely tangential to what I do on a day-to-day basis. I am learning about design and photography. I am learning about data — the field that I studied in graduate school — and how to apply these concepts to my storytelling businesses. I feel energized, inspired and motivated to go to class.

 

3. Learn with others

I’m not going to lie; my business has made me a bit of a hermit. Video chats and phone calls are core parts of my daily routine. I find myself chained to my desk.

I miss being with the people I love. I miss meeting new people. I miss the heart-to-heart experiences and discussions of college.

 

Networking Icebreakers
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In-person events and classes are what gets me out the door. I love the opportunity to learn with and get to know people as my peers, not as prospective clients or vendors to my company. It’s the wisdom and energy of my peers that inspires me to keep learning — and growing — in my business and the world beyond it.

 

As much as I told myself that I wanted to keep learning, I couldn’t buckle down to do it until I made adjustments to my routine and schedule. There was definitely a learning curve.

 

This article has been edited.

Ritika Puri is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Storyhackers, a company that helps business create impactful, inspiring and data-driven content programs. She enjoys writing about data, teaching others things that she’s learning and helping other entrepreneurs succeed. This article originally appeared here.

 

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