7 tips from Richard Branson, how to balance work and personal life

For the entrepreneur, launching startups, there's always a million things to do and the clock working against you. Pretty easy to neglect your health and your family to spend their time there is an urgent situation. Find time for yourself or think about the future of business can seem almost impossible, but you will not be able to continue to move at a speed of 100 miles per hour, if you have an empty fuel tank.

1. Pay any free time family
A big problem may be a simple orientation in everyday affairs. For me, technology is a great help here - I use on my phone calendar, e-mails and reminders to organize and navigate in their affairs and meetings. You can also use it all, at least to guarantee a time for regular meals and needed sleep. My family is the center of my life, so that no matter where in the world I have been, when I have a few minutes, I talk to my wife and children.


2. Take short breaks
Short breaks can make a big difference. When everything is immersed in the frenetic rush me updates cup of good English tea. And after a long day of business trips and meetings, hot, relaxing bath change my condition. And do not forget to exercise to keep the body in the same active state as the mind. I try to start your days on the island of Necker (island belonging Branson) with sailing near the island, or a game of tennis.

3. Make every day a unique
But while some people are trying to deal with the stresses of entrepreneurship through the creation of a strict daily routine that covers the bare minimum - eating, sleeping, and may exercise - I am not able to describe your daily, because I do not. I try to make every day unique. If you love life and want to live it as much as possible filled, you have to have this limitless possibilities.

4. Be flexible, determine priorities
As an entrepreneur, you have to find a way to be flexible, because when there is a problem, you have to prioritize. If you have planned things that need to defer, then so be it. I found that the best solution was to hire people who can do business of our business so that I could perform representative functions Virgin Group. This division of labor has been very helpful to us recently in relation to Virgin Trains, our rail business in the UK, when the Department of Transport rejected our application. It was such an important issue that I threw all the other things to focus on that and try to find a positive solution. September 10, I personally presented our application before the Transport Committee.

5. Relax and plan
Once you've learned to delegate and free yourself from micromanagement, it is necessary to take this opportunity to focus on the future. It is vitally important to find time for inspirational thoughts. When I am on the island of Necker, then every day I spend some time in a hammock with a notebook and Ipad, pondering new dreams and ideas. At the beginning of your career, you may be able to be paid to planning the entire 10 minutes a day during business trips, or during a break between appointments, but even if that's all you can do, you should use it to the maximum.

6. Delegate
Learning to delegate is also means that you can temporarily completely disconnected from the cases - it will keep you fresh for other tasks. One of my daily pleasures - is helping others and working with our charitable foundation Virgin Unite. Business leaders often become isolated in their own world, so that the charity allows you to see things from the other side. It's amazing how a focus on issues such as health care, poverty and climate change helps your thinking in other areas.

7. Examine the pleasure
Finally, to be fresh and ready for anything, you need to find time to play. You have a much better chance of success if you're having fun, so the game as hard as the work, if not more! Take time to laugh, chat with friends or new people. You can simply share a joke on Twitter.

Translation articles Richard Branson -
founder of the Virgin