Healthy Individuals = Successful Businesses 3

How can we increase balance each day?

Information and communication along with problem-solving through shared decision-making (among business members, with employees, and with agribusiness personnel) are critical factors for viable farm operations today.

To do this well, you need energy - -physical, mental, and emotional. Life balance creates a larger pool of energy from which to build a successful business.

Mini-breaks are often the key to day-to-day life balance. We all need to develop habits that relieve the stress of work and create quality time away from work and with your family and friends. Research shows that how you spend time with your family is at least as important as how much time you spend.

Try some of the following:

• Schedule time during the day when all family members are together. Talk about the day. Ask each person to share one or two positives from their day -- a new friend, an accomplishment, something learned, an exciting experience with an old friend.
• Go for a walk. Don't look for weeds in the corn or problems with the beans. Listen to a bird sing, watch a butterfly flit by, marvel at a beautiful flower or the quiet of the countryside.
• Read something you enjoy. You need not spend a long time. A chapter or a few pages a day really add up. A short period of reading or reflection is very important to many very successful people.

Dr. Bob Milligan is Senior Consultant with Dairy Strategies, LLC and Professor Emeritus, Cornell University.

His insights come from 35 years of working with farm businesses. He also was an award-winning teacher in the fifth-ranked undergraduate business program in the country. Bob lives in St. Paul, Minnesota

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