How Loved Ones Help You Beat Stress and Other Tips This Week

A roundup of the best tips of the week from Entrepreneur.com.

No matter how busy life gets as an entrepreneur, spending time with friends and family is something you should budget time for. Social activity is one of the best ways to fight stress, and it may even help you live longer.

Don't underestimate the value of moral support, either. Mountains seem more like mole hills when you have friends around you. When you don't, the reverse is true. "Social connection will actually change your perceptions of the world around you," says Heidi Hanna, author of The Sharp Solution: A Brain-Based Approach for Optimal Performance. "It's such a core survival need to be part of a tribe or a core community." More: 5 Ways to Stop Stress Before It Starts

Time-test yourself for sleep deprivation.
If you fall asleep within 10 minutes of lying down, it's a good bet that you're sleep-deprived. And the bad news is, the sleep you do get may not be as restorative as it should be. "Sleep is not an on/off switch," says Dr. Michael Breus, author of a book on how to improve your sleep habits. He advises that it should take about 30 minutes to fully fall asleep. "There's a process that needs to occur and the body needs time to shut down properly." More: 4 Habits That Are Keeping You Up At Night

Save 'until it hurts.'
J. D. Roth, the founder of personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly, says that the "No pain, no gain" applies to growing money much as it applies to growing muscle. He advises saving at least 20 percent of your after-tax income each month, preferably in a high-yield savings account. Anything you put toward paying down debt or into a retirement account also counts as saving. More: How to Build a Nest Egg

Curate information to sell your business ideas.
Come to the table prepared -- show customers and investors that you understand who they are and what they need by providing context for your ideas. "The skills that matter now are not accessing information but curating it and making it clear," says Daniel Pink, author of To Sell Is Human. More: How to Reframe Your Thinking to Sell Your Business Ideas

Protect yourself from hackers.
News broke this week that The New York Times was hacked, apparently through an email phishing scam. To avoid a similar security breach, educate your staff about the signs of suspicious emails and keep your software up-to-date to protect yourself from scammers who might want access to your sensitive business information. More: New York Times Hacked: 3 Tips for Avoiding Email Scams