Denise shared some tips on good parenting in an article published on Authority Magazine last October 14, 2019. She also talked about the importance of creating memories and spending quality time with your children. Read full article here.
It pays to have the power of momentum on your side whether you’re running an Olympic race or just trying to hit your gross revenue goals this quarter in your business. Even though you may not have thought about physics since high school or college, today we’ll explore how the laws of physics can help you reach your business and personal goals even faster.
You may have heard of Isaac Newton’s Law of Inertia: An object in motion tends to stay in motion. An object at rest tends to stay at rest. That’s also true for people.
Try these 12 techniques to propel yourself towards more success by taking advantage of this law of nature.
Make a Start
1. Take the first step. The kickoff of any project can be the most challenging stage. Give yourself credit for taking the initiative. You’re on your way to fulfilling your wishes. Even if you make a mistake, you can learn from it.
2. Begin early. Use your morning hours wisely. Rack up at least one accomplishment before breakfast. You may sort through your emails or do a load of laundry in record time when interruptions are fewer
3. Start strong. Generate multiple leads to fill up your pipeline. For example, if one job interview fails to pan out, you’ll have several other applications to follow up on.
4. Break projects down. Simplify complicated jobs. If you’re renovating your bathroom, draft a budget and ask family and friends to recommend contractors.
5. Aim for easy wins. Feel like a hero by getting a few simple victories under your belt. It will inspire you to keep striving for more.
6. Gather facts. Avoid delays due to uncertainty. Conduct the necessary research first. Browse online or ask a librarian for the best resources. Reach out to experts to get their advice.
7. Identify obstacles. Similarly, anticipating roadblocks helps you to plan around them. For instance, arrange for a colleague to cover your responsibilities before you ask your supervisor for a week off.
Keep Moving Ahead
8. Clarify your goals. It’s easier to advance when you know where you’re going. Be precise about what you want to achieve.
9. Establish timelines. Target dates are another important element. Stay on track by deciding to get your taxes done by the end of the month or clean out the garage this weekend.
10. Hold yourself accountable. Realize that you generate your own energy. Motivation is more reliable when it’s internal.
11. Build on your previous victories. Resist the temptation to rest on your laurels. Get back on the up immediately after a setback and use it as valuable data to steer you in a better direction.
12. Share the glory with others on your team and in your life. Enlist the support of others. People like to be valued. You can spur each other on. Momentum is contagious!
Most entrepreneurs think that waking up early is the path to success and victory, and you can’t blame them. Countless articles discuss the value of going to bed early and waking up early. You get more rest and get more done, in theory. In practice, that’s not always the case. Granted, some very successful people work off an “early to bed” schedule.
They’re not you. You may have an entirely different kind of rhythm, one that lets you stay up late. Here are a number of reasons you should consider becoming more of a night owl:
1. You’re More Creative at Night
When you wake up early in the morning, you have the rest of the day ahead of you. Mentally, you’re getting ready for the productivity required for the coming day. Things are different at night. Everything’s behind you and tomorrow waits after the wall of sleep. Thus, you can be more creative because you’re less burdened by the day’s requirements.
2. You Get to See More Personally
Stay up later, you get to see more things for yourself. Sure, you can sleep and wake up to hundreds of texts telling you that your favorite team won, but you can, instead, see it with your own eyes. It’s an entirely different experience, one that can inspire you to greater heights. It can also be more fun, which can help with stress relief.
3. You Wake Up Happy
Alarms are useful, but for many entrepreneurs, it’s a source of stress. They go to sleep, often dreading the moment that blaring alarm will rouse them from what could be the only source of rest they have. When all you have to worry about when you wake up is your coffee, sleeping becomes easy.
4. You Can Use The Time to Get Ahead
When all is quiet, you can see the path ahead clearly. That may sound like mixed metaphors, but it’s true. It’s easier to figure out what needs doing when everyone else is asleep. Stay up late, chart a course. Send emails where they need to be sent, and go to sleep with your to-do list all crossed out.
5. You Get to Enjoy the Commute
Whether you’re driving or taking public transport, dodging rush hour is a blessing you must give yourself. The streets are emptier and you’re happier. The health problems associated with traffic are numerous, so you’re also keeping yourself in tip-top shape. This works both ways. If you’re planning on staying up anyway, you may as well go home after the rush is done. Wake up late enough, and you may end up sleeping through the morning hustle.
Waking up and sleeping late is not for all entrepreneurs. Some entrepreneurs find they are more productive and at their peak by sleeping later and staying up later. If you’ve never tried a different sleep routine to find your own performance sweet spot, give it a shot. It’s definitely an experiment worth trying (and you know how I love experiments). You might get bigger rewards if you do.
On Sept 18, 2019, Denise presented to over 200 current and future podcasters about her journey as an entrepreneur and her passion in helping entrepreneurs be more productive so they can create a life full of meaning.
Throughout history, business owners have earned admiration for their dedication to their business and their willingness to make sacrifices. However, when it comes to working hard, there’s also a point of diminishing returns. You can only work so hard before your performance begins to suffer and your success rate takes a dive. The most sensible alternative is to work smarter, not harder. Here is a look at some ways in which you can do this.
1. Complete Your Biggest Levers First
My biggest suggestion to help you work smarter is to sit down and do a brain dump on all the tasks that you need to handle today. Then, perform a Pareto Principle analysis (see article here) and identify the 2-3 biggest levers that will move your business along and produce 80% or so of the results for 20% or so of the effort. Then, complete those levers first, ideally before lunch.
Do NOT check your email as soon as you get to work. That will just suck you into the abyss of other people’s priorities, not your own.
Working smart means being productive, rather than just being busy. Anyone can make themselves busy by burying themselves in unnecessary tasks. However, by doing that, you could be causing your day to be longer and harder than necessary. Eventually, you’ll have to get back to the work that counts and by then, you may have fallen behind.
By finishing the biggest levers first (before checking email or anything else), you will have a productive day even if you get nothing else done for the rest of the day. This is the one of the the top strategies that I implemented in my own life and business that had the biggest impact.
2. Frequent Breaks
On average, our brains remain entirely focused for about 90 minutes. After that, a 15-minute break is necessary to be able to return to that fully-focused state for another 90 minutes. Going beyond 90 minutes might allow you to get more done, but at some point, your brain will begin looking for distractions. Ultimately, you’ll spend far more time in an unproductive state than if you had just taken those breaks at regular intervals.
Taking a break allows you to preserve and enhance the greatest asset that you have, which is you. Everyone wants some degree of balance, and you’ll never achieve it until you spend some time cultivating the social, emotional, physical, and spiritual areas of your life.
You can use breaks to spend some time on the phone with a friend or relative, catch up with your spouse, go for a walk or spend a few moments in meditation or prayer. Breaks are beneficial in all areas of life, and you’ll find that they can do a lot to help you avoid burnout by giving your brain a chance to re-energize itself.
Keep in mind that although 15 minutes is ideal, breaks that long may be difficult to come by in certain situations. You may have to figure out some variation that suits you better. Do whatever works and remember that the point is to incorporate short breaks throughout the day to allow your attention span to reset itself.
3. Short Naps
Research shows that frequent napping results in improved cognitive function. When memories get recorded in the hippocampus, they can still be quickly forgotten. Napping helps the brain solidify memories by moving them to the neocortex, where they can’t be overwritten. The more you have to memorize, the more beneficial this can be. In addition to memory retention, naps can also help boost creative thinking.
Another benefit of naps is that they can help prevent burnout. What many people don’t realize is that it is a signal from your body that your brain won’t be taking in any more information until you’ve gotten some rest. Naps are a great way to recharge your batteries and refresh your mind, especially if you haven’t been getting enough sleep.
4. Enjoy Nature
Spending a lot of time working can leave your body tense and the mind cluttered. Spending quality time in nature is a great way to relax and clear the mind. Taking a short walk in natural surroundings can work wonders. Although walking anywhere does provide some benefit, it may be solely physical if you’re walking through crowded streets in a busy city. In other words, you’ll get the benefits you would typically get from exercise, but the amount of attention required to navigate a busy street safely will prevent you from being able to relax and clear your thoughts.
Putting these strategies to work may be the best choice you’ve ever made. Freeing up blocks of your time enables you to enjoy more activities that don’t involve work. If your reason for working in your business is to maintain and improve your quality of life, it should be a given that working smarter beats working harder.
P.S. If you would like more information on how to work smarter and to grow by actually doing less, check out my podcast episode called: Grow by Subtraction Using Forced Hyper-Efficiency
Denise revealed how busy entrepreneurs can grow their business even faster by working less in the August 29, 2019 episode of Like a Boss with Heather Havenwood. She also shared some unconventional scheduling and growth strategies that helped her run 3 companies. Listen to the full episode here.
Denise Gosnell Consulting, Inc. ©
| Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Refund Policy
