Work-life balance is one of the most challenging things any entrepreneur has to deal with. As small business consultant Cindy Giroud explained: “When you’re in business for yourself, it’s 24/7. It never leaves you.” In fact, a New York Enterprise Report poll found that small business owners work twice as much as everyday employees and that 25% of owners work more than 60 hours a week to make sure their companies stay afloat. But carving out time for yourself outside of work is so important for both your business’ health and your own emotional well-being. “When things are in proper balance — when you get enough sleep — you can make better decisions,” Giroud said. “You see things that you might have overlooked.”

Though it may seem impossible to offload any work tasks, she believes strongly there are ways, for even the busiest entrepreneur, to create a better work-life balance. “It just takes living with intention, knowing what you want and then being willing to take the action,” Giroud said.

She offers seven tips for creating a better work-life balance:

Envision the life you want to have.

If you’re feeling out of balance, something’s getting in the way of you being balanced, Giroud said. Are you not spending enough time with your kids? Do you not have time to see friends or go to dinner with your spouse? One of the best ways to commit to making change is to have a clear sense of what it is you are missing and what the life you want to have looks like.

Write down a list of the things that you’re “tolerating” at work and at home.

This, Giroud explained, means “the stuff that just drags down your mind” but you haven’t really dealt with. It could be an employee who isn’t pulling their weight. It could be a long commute eats up hours of your day or a bad customer who’s draining all your energy. At home, the thing you might be “tolerating” is a messy house that’s driving you crazy but that you haven’t had time to clean or a workspace setup that doesn’t allow you to work efficiently.

What Giroud has noticed in her long career as a consultant is that “when you ask the question ‘What are you tolerating?’ It gets immediate answers. People don’t have to think long about the things that are irritating them because they really know what they are. They just aren’t dealing with them,” she said.

Once you’ve brainstormed for a few minutes, write down your responses. “It’s a mental thing,” Giroud explained. “Seeing the words written down helps your brain better process them.”

Problem-solve.

Once you have your written list, “work through each of the things you’re tolerating, and say: ‘OK, what can I do about this? What kind of action do I need to take?’” she said. Problem-solving might mean realizing you have to have that tough conversation with the employee who hasn’t been pulling their weight, or it might mean, moving closer to your work so you can get some hours back in the day or telling your family everyone is going to take an hour to clean up the house together at a certain time.

Solutions look different for everyone. The important thing is: Once you come up with action steps, put a deadline on them to make sure there’s follow-through. That’s where people often miss the mark, Giroud said. “They know something’s wrong, but they don’t take the next step, which is figuring out what action to take and then doing it.”

Analyze where you are spending your time.

Cutting back your working hours is one of the best ways to create more work-life balance, yet one of the first things a lot of entrepreneurs say is that there are no areas they can cut back on; they’re needed for every part of the business. “We had a client that was working 70 hours a week consistently. When we started working with him, he couldn’t even string five days [of time off] together a year,” Giround said. She advised him, as she does a lot of her clients, to start a time study, marking down how he was spending his time. After an analysis, he realized he was spending “some ungodly amount, like 30%, of his time on customer calls —not to get the sale but just to manage the production process,” she said.

“Take a look at what’s costing you the most time,” Giroud said. When it comes to work, she subscribes to the 80/20 rule that 80% of all outcomes are derived from 20% of causes. “Look at what is yielding the most results, and focus your attention there,” Giroud advised.

Once her 70-hours-per-week client really thought through his schedule, he recognized places where he might be able to outsource some work. Giroud advised doing things like hiring a virtual assistant to manage scheduling or investing in artificial intelligence to automate some tasks. Giroud’s client invested in technology and hired an employee to handle the customer calls that were taking up so much of his time. Now, she said, “this guy is taking up to 61 vacation days a year.”

Prioritize time for personal well-being.

It’s easy to write off exercise or yoga classes as an unnecessary indulgence, but taking care of yourself positively impacts your ability to manage your business effectively and it doesn’t have to be for a full hour. Sometimes 10 or 15 minutes of physical exertion or stretching is all you need. These breaks, Giroud said, “clear your mind and get you centered.” She advised blocking a certain amount of time off on your calendar for these personal wellness practices and considering them as important as any other business meetings.

Pause before saying yes to things.

There’s a reason the phrase “When you want something done, you should ask a busy person” is so well-known. The first people others turn to are the ones they know can get things done. But before responding to an ask, Giroud said, pause. “Look at the person who’s asking. Consider how important that person is to you and what the impact is of what the person is asking you to do.” That extra task — say, volunteering at a golf tournament on a weekend — might drain your balance if you’re already overwhelmed and haven’t been with your kids all week. On the flip side, volunteering might expand your network and give you a needed break from your routine and some perspective. Your answers don’t have to be black-and-white. “A nice way to respond is: ‘I can’t do that, but I’d be happy to do this’ or ‘Right now my plate is full. Come back to me in three months,’” Giroud said.

Find an accountability partner.

Just as with dieting or exercising, you’re more likely to stick to your work-life-balance goals if you have someone to report back to. This could be a coach, a friend or even your spouse. “Just telling someone what you intend to do makes you more inclined to do it,” Giroud said.

As she constantly reminds small business owners, change happens only when you’re willing to take action.