Running your own business has to be one of the most gratifying feelings in the world, right? Well, a recent article published by Inc.com that claims that entrepreneurs are amongst the happiest groups of professionals (well-being score of 73 points) definitely suggests so. However, other studies make pretty much clear that this well-being doesn’t come naturally and needs to be fought four. The recent evidence suggests that 49% of entrepreneurs deal with some sort of work-related mental issue as compared to 32% of other employed people. This hasty lifestyle can also take a toll on physical health. Let us take a look at a couple of useful habits that will help you to leverage the benefits of the entrepreneur lifestyle and spend your time in a healthy and productive manner.
Try to learn something new every day
Ramping up your personal and professional skills and education will help you find an easier way to keep up with this ever-evolving and feel better about your spare time. If you spend your free hours on sheer leisure at some point you will get a sense you are wasting a good chunk of it. Filling in these hours with something that will help you grow as a person and a professional will create a much stronger sense of accomplishment and gear you up for future challenges. Although in this case, you can't make a wrong choice, we'd say books about healthy habits and personal development make a perfect place to start.
Make physical activity your utmost priority
You know how the ancient Romans used to say – mens sana in corpore sano (a healthy mind lives in a healthy body). Even so, the recent survey says that as much as 80% of adult persons don't get the recommended level of exercise. Entrepreneurs who usually live on a very tight schedule are especially susceptible to this problem. Well, the American Heart Association recommends that you should get at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of intense aerobic activity per week to stay healthy. Use these numbers as your baseline and do your best to get a workout early in the morning while you are still fresh.
Cut the junk food and start preparing your meals
Entrepreneurs’ fast-paced lifestyle often entails heavy reliance on fast food and other simple meals to satisfy basic nutritional needs. This practice, though, can only destroy health and diminish productivity. So, take the matters into your own hands and start preparing clean plant-based meals that will actually gear you up for future challenges. If you feel your meals are not versatile enough you can always use whole body collagen supplements to get the structural protein boost you might be lacking. Also, do your best to eliminate low-calorie beverages and bake and grill instead of frying to reduce the extra fat.
Develop and maintain routine
A healthy routine makes going through daily tasks much easier and makes the tasks you would otherwise consider taxing almost subconscious. So, start making incremental daily improvements, and once you adopt some beneficial practice never go back to the previous status quo. Try to change your attitude toward these chores and change your personality rather than your daily agenda. Once you make these core tweaks the results will soon follow. Also, the environment does a lot of work in boosting your motivation. If you need to exercise, put the dumbbells right next to the bed. Accordingly, sweet beverages need to go out.
Practice mindfulness to improve results
Poor physical health and mental health make one very strong vicious circle that needs to be challenged on both fronts at the same time. So, while you are cleaning your diet and working out, try giving the same level of love to mental health as well. Fortunately, the methods for improving concentration and practicing mindfulness are as numerous as they are efficient. But, you can start by trying to get enough sleep (7-9 hours for adults) and performing some sort of meditation or meditative exercises like qigong or yoga. The latter mention also gives you a pretty good workout so you get the best of both worlds.
Practice the skill of time management
Last but not least, all the things we have covered above will mean you will need to devote more time to your personal well-being leaving you with less time to deal with all other entrepreneurial challenges. The only way you can leverage both these responsibilities successfully is to find a way to perform your tasks faster. So, mastering the practices of efficient time management is more than advised. The first thing you should do is to deal with the high-priority tasks first. Second, perform the same tasks at the same time to develop a habit. If you tackle these two challenges, you will get the half job done.
We hope these few tips will help you develop some healthy habits and start reclaiming your time, health, and overall well-being. The life of an entrepreneur is already too taxing and stressful as it is. We don't need to make it any harder by stacking up the bad habits. The road out of this maze is long and takes some work. But, you at least know where to start.
