To give your business the best chance of success, you need to look after your body and mind. This may sound like common sense, but there are a number of bad habits many of us have picked up which discreetly sap our energy and productivity, and can also damage our health.

The nine tips below are fundamental in helping you run your business—and not letting your business run you!

Get enough sleep to recharge your body and mind

It’s easy to get caught up in the day’s activities and often our sleep suffers as a result. If the day is going well, we want to continue riding the positive wave of productivity. And if the day’s been a bit of nightmare, we feel the need to put things right. Either way you end up working all hours—but you’re not at your best with a poor night’s sleep, and there’s plenty of research to prove it. Having eight hours of quality sleep is hugely beneficial for you and your business, so call it a day at a reasonable hour—work will still be there tomorrow.

Exercise regularly for a daily flow of feel-good chemicals

Just 20 minutes of exercise a day gives you a rush of feel-good chemicals and helps stave off illness. Health benefits aside, exercise breaks up the day nicely, leaving you with a fresher mind when you return to work. All of that for just 20 minutes a day? It’s a pretty good deal.

Don’t check emails too often; instead set specific times in the day to read them

The more emails you send the more you will receive. Have a schedule for checking emails to make the most out of your time at work, as those relentless back-and-forth exchanges will only steal your focus and drain your productivity.

Delegate the tasks that you don’t need to do

This one may take a bit of getting used to at first, but get into the habit of asking yourself: “Could someone else do this?” Delegating tasks to trusted members of your team will free up valuable hours, giving you time to focus on more pressing issues that demand your attention.

Don’t fear failure, use it to spur you on

Successful entrepreneurs fail—and frequently. Some failures are more costly than others, but ultimately every mistake you make will teach you a valuable lesson, and prevent you from doing the same thing in the future.

Seek out information to stay on top of your industry

Regardless of how well your business is performing, your thirst to learn and grow must be ever-present, as things can change fast, and plenty of businesses have crumbled due to their failure to adapt to changes within their industry. And it doesn’t take a great deal of effort to stay in the loop these days, with websites like Twitter and Stumbleupon allowing you to tailor your news feed with stories from your selected industry.

Avoid a negative mindset, as it’s not good for business

Beware of your inner critic. While we all have one, we must do our best to ignore it. A negative mind will cloud your judgment, and your best ideas may be ignored if you’re lacking self-belief or motivation. Not only that, a negative mindset can bring down those around you, which makes for one very unproductive team.

Stop multitasking—it actually makes you less productive!

It’s a popular cliché written on many people's resumes: “I am a great multitasker.” But research shows us humans are terrible at multitasking and it actually lowers our performance, significantly. Enjoy the simple art of working on one thing at a time and watch your productivity soar.

Use apps to communicate better, work smarter, and save time

Whether you consider yourself a techie or not, there are plenty of apps worthy of your attention. Slack, Evernote, and Google Drive have made workplace productivity a breeze. Some of them may take a little getting used to at first, but they are well worth mastering, as they will save you valuable hours in the working week.