Being a successful entrepreneur is more of a marathon than a sprint, whether you start at twenty or at fifty. Success rewards those who have the patience to wait for it, and who prepare for it in and out of the office. Whether you’ve started a new business or are thinking about creating one in the future, the following habits will pave the way for your success.

• Keep up with mobile and online technologies. They help your business grow faster and save you time, which you can devote to your family and friends.

• Do what you should, not what you can. When you are an entrepreneur, there is always something to do, but your energy and time are limited. Use them to make key decisions and steer your business in the right direction. Delegate the rest.

• Build your business around your life. A business fueled by passion is a good business.

• Manage expenditures and profits accurately on a day-to-day basis. Let technology do the math for you, but make sure that all numbers add up.

• Be an active presence on social media. Discover the appeal of social media and use it to connect with customers and suppliers and network with others in your field.

• Talk directly to your key customers through email, phone, social media, and face to face. This helps build trust – in the long run they will come to rely on you and prefer you to other businesses that hide behind their corporate identity.

• Know your 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year business goals. Write them down and never lose track of them.

• Do the hardest task first, whether it’s writing a business plan, making sense of a sales report, setting marketing objectives, or reaching an agreement with a difficult supplier or customer.

• Do what is important, not what is urgent. Delegate what is urgent to your team. Often, urgent tasks are not critical to the growth of your business.

• Use analytics to measure your success and track progress. Starting with Google Analytics, modern analytics are user-friendly even for a fifty- or sixty-something entrepreneur.

• Sleep at least 7 hours every night. Your performance throughout the day will be largely influenced by the quality of your sleep.

• Spend time with your family and friends every day. Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely and at times stressful role. Simple human interactions and the support of your loved ones help recharge your batteries and keep you strong.

• Read books, publications, and websites relevant to your business for at least 30 minutes every day.

• Make a good first impression on everyone – employees, partners, vendor representatives, prospective customers. Dress well, be on time, smile.

• Tap into the power of synergy by keeping your team motivated. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts – this is true for small businesses, too. The success of your business will be influenced by how committed your team is to their work.

• Eat a healthy diet. Low energy, high-blood pressure, and all manner of pains and ailments can all be traced to a careless diet. Don’t let time constraints dictate what you eat – make room for healthy meals in your schedule.

• Stay fit. Being an entrepreneur is demanding both physically and mentally. Running, cycling, hiking, playing sports, or going to the gym on a regular basis improves your business performance.

• Accept failure as an unavoidable facet of running a business. No matter how experienced and careful you are, you are bound to fail at something sooner or later, whether it’s a marketing campaign, a contract negotiation, or a deal with a vendor. Successful entrepreneurs are not those who don’t fail, but those who overcome failure and move on.

• Make a commitment to continual education. You don’t have to sign up to business courses if you don’t want to, but reading extensively about your field is a must.

• Go on vacations often. A nice view and a new perspective is not only healthy, but enables you to look at old problems with fresh eyes, helping you solve them.

Entrepreneurship consultant, keynote speaker and author, Pamela Wigglesworth has carved out a unique space in the market specializing in small business marketing and senior entrepreneurship. She is the author of The 50-60 Something Start-up Entrepreneur: How to Quickly Start and Run a Successful Small Business. Discover if entrepreneurship is for you.