During EntrepreneurRx's Start Up Scale Up Summit 2022 A.J. Mirabedini and I had a chance to discuss ways that entrepreneurs can put structures in place to take care of themselves to achieve holistic success. These ideas are relevant for anyone.
Try these steps to maintain excitement and energy to run your business while avoiding burnout and maintaining or strengthening your relationships, health, and peace of mind.
Define a comprehensive vision for your business and life 10 - 20 years from now.
What's important to you?
What and who is a part of your life?
What activities are you enjoying?
What brings you joy?
What excites you?
What are you proud of?
Prioritize and manage your time to start living that vision NOW.
What's truly important for you, your business, and your loved ones?
Get in conversation with loved ones and share your dreams and needs and understand theirs.
If something feels like a "should", maybe you can eliminate it. Dig deeper:
What do you have to give up to do this?
Are you avoiding it due to fear? If so, what skills do you need to develop?
If this "priority" wasn't done this quarter, what would be the impact?
What do you excel at and get energized by? What can you delegate to others?
Strengthen your ability to focus to increase your clarity and productiveness.
Schedule 30-to-90-minute blocks of time where you eliminate ALL distractions.
Before getting started, define exactly what you need to get done, the criteria for measuring completion, and estimate how long it will take. This helps end needless iteration and strengthens your ability to estimate how long it take to do things.
Distractions: create email rules, do similar tasks at one time, what notifications are needed?
End procrastination: Focus on the first step. Commit to working for 10 minutes. After that ask: should I continue, work for 10 more minutes, or stop?
Gain control of your mind so when you choose to focus, your mind obeys you.
Experiment with quick breathing techniques to see which calm your mind.
Inhale for count of 4, exhale for a count of 8, pause. Repeat 2 - 5 times.
Inhale for count of 4, hold for count of 7, exhale for count of 8. Repeat twice.
Incorporate mindfulness and meditation into your daily routine.
Embrace a growth mindset. Practice self-compassion and celebrate!
Focus on learning instead of perfection. Remember the harder something is to learn, the more you grow.
What's the opportunity for learning, getting stronger, or getting inspired?
What is there to celebrate?
Practice self-compassion:
Acknowledge what you are going through is really hard.
Who do you know and respect who's experienced something similar?
What's the kindest thing I can say to myself? What would I say to a loved one in a similar situation?
