Interior design is a competitive industry – and one that often leaves those in it feeling the need to be available at all times. However, being engulfed in work can drain a person quickly, and fatigue will build up with time. If not addressed, the risk of burnout is a very real possibility.
Characterized by a feeling of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion, burnout results from extended periods of stress. Therefore, effectively dealing with stress is crucial on personal and professional levels. If you're feeling swamped and struggling to stay on top of things, here are five ways to relieve stress during the busy season.
1. Get Plenty of Sleep and Get Your Day Started Early
"The early bird catches the worm," right? This saying rings true and applies to the business world, as you'll gain extra hours by getting up just a little bit earlier each day. Just think – you'll find yourself with five additional hours in a workweek if you were to get up an hour earlier each day.
For those who may not be morning people and consider themselves night owls, perhaps you could incorporate extra hours into your day by staying later in the office, enjoying the quiet time once the rest of the team has gone home and you're free from distractions.
Still, neither of these ideas should be detrimental to your sleep schedule. Find what works best for you. While some can function on five or six hours of sleep a night, others may need seven or eight. A good rule of thumb is to ensure you've shut off from technology at least 30 minutes before hitting the pillow to establish a relaxing, wind-down ritual. Reading a book or doing some light yoga and stretching can help calm the mind and switch it off after a busy day. Habits like these help ensure a quality night's sleep by limiting the chances of tossing and turning.
2. Strive for Balance
Though it sounds counterintuitive, you will perform best at work if your whole life doesn't revolve around it. It's important to distinguish between work and personal life for a much-needed mental break and increasing overall productivity.
An excellent work-life balance offers opportunities to get creative without constantly being in the work mindset. It's something that we all should practice often - and you should encourage your team to do so as well. This could look like prioritizing exercise, taking a couple of short breaks during the day, picking up a hobby, or working toward other goals outside of work.
When it comes to creating balance, it's crucial to appreciate and understand the value of your time. DesignDocs' time tracking system helps you see the monetary value of your time by providing insight into what activities are most profitable to your firm. From there, you can choose to focus and direct your attention on these tasks, freeing up more time for your life outside of the office.
3. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
When work gets busy, you start to see where weak points exist in the business. If your interior design firm consists of multiple staff members, ensuring everyone knows their role and responsibilities means less confusion and ambiguity over who's doing what. Keeping the channels of communication open both internally and externally will help you feel aware and in control of what is happening at all times.
When communicating with clients, make sure all the information they need is readily available. Your best bet for effective client communication and relations is investing in cloud-based, integrated project management and accounting software. Simultaneous, multi-user access means there are no limits to the number of staff accessing a client's file at one time. Furthermore, updates to client documents or project files happen in real-time, meaning you can rest assured that what you're seeing is up to date and current, and you won't be left looking like your firm or staff are behind the eightball.
4. Learn to Say No
When business is booming, it's common for more and more projects to continue popping up. However, accepting projects that don't align with the direction of your firm can put it on a path it never intended. Additionally, taking on clients who aren't the right fit will only exacerbate your team's stress levels and yours.
By analyzing the profitability of past projects, you can learn to say no to prospective projects or clients that don't contribute to your firm's long-term goals. An integrated project management and accounting system like DesignDocs allows you to generate the necessary reports to analyze your projects thoroughly. By delving into these, you'll see what projects have been historically the most profitable for your firm on many different levels. That way, when a project comes your way that doesn't fit into the bigger plan, you can more decidedly say "no, thank you" without feeling like you can't justify it.
5. Automate Wherever Possible
Technology really is a beautiful thing, as it can manage all the mundane, time-consuming tasks that add unnecessary stress to our day.
Using an integrated project management and accounting software in your design firm will allow you to properly prioritize tasks and eliminate tedious back-office processes such as invoicing and accounting. These software solutions can also help you stay organized by helping you track projects, payments, and more. That means less time spent trying to catch up on where things stand and more time spent qualifying new leads or discussing design schemes with clients.
DesignDocs software can help you automate countless day-to-day tasks, making it simple for you and your team to achieve a perfect work-life balance and create a stress-free work environment.
