Any business wouldn’t succeed unless productivity is factored in; startups, in particular, need to be more productive in order to get a head start. Entrepreneurs working through today’s frenzied professional environment are highly prone to stress, which is one of the biggest nemeses of productivity.
Business owners, as well as employees, are working longer hours and processing more information than ever, but it isn’t necessarily making them more productive. In fact, this is draining their energy away and rendering them inefficient.
Self-care, therefore, is the crying need of the hour for entrepreneurs that will help them achieve greater productivity, workplace happiness, and success. But what exactly is self-care?
To put it succinctly, self-care is self-investment, provided by you and for you. In other words, self-care is following a routine that helps you boost and maintain your physical, mental, and emotional health. You become more relaxed and even readier to take on your work and responsibilities. Thus, it allows you to create a reserve of reliable habits that can positively affect your quality of life both now and in the future.
If you are a budding entrepreneur, the following 5 self-care techniques will help you in a big way:
1. Get Organized
Getting organized not only in the workplace but also in your personal life can work wonders for you. After all, good organization skills and time management are an obvious means to make your life more productive. Effectively organizing the daily execution of your business frees your mind to focus on your most important tasks. Being organized removes the distractions of frantically searching for what you need to do.
De-cluttering should be the first step on your road to becoming organized, so start with your own workstation. Eliminate every piece of clutter you don’t need, streamline your equipment, and choose a filing system to store and locate documents or files.
2. Follow a Healthy Routine
It’s important for you to take control of your everyday life by incorporating a healthy routine, which will help you build a happy, healthy life and ultimately increase your productivity. To begin with, an effective morning routine will really set the productivity tone for the rest of the day. Start by waking up at the right time after getting a good night’s sleep.
After that, take time each day for exercise; sometimes just getting outside for a walk is enough to make a difference. Making exercise a regular part of your lifestyle can change the way you react to stress. You will feel much happier when you stick to the routine since it is not just good for your body, but it’s great for clearing your mind. By doing this, you regain the much-needed focus that helps you master the rest of the day.
3. Do Something Creative
Chasing productivity tirelessly is not the long-term solution for continuous performance. At some point in time, you have to sit back, introspect, and think about fresh ideas, which can only be achieved by doing something creative. Eliciting this deep desire to bring something new is one of the most profitable aspects of self-care that can give you a productive edge in the longer run.
On the face of it, productivity and creativity seem opposing propositions, but the truth is thinking creatively can give you amazing results in terms of productivity. Creativity leads to innovative ideas, which have the potential to produce unique products or more productive workflow processes. You need to shape environments where creativity can flourish and productivity can emerge as a by-product.
4. Say No to Intoxicants
As you know, self-care is all about improving your physical, mental, and emotional health, which means there is no place for intoxicants in your life. Drugs and alcohol should be kept at bay. These cannot go along with business productivity because they can affect any industry and any organization, big or small.
For example, two specific kinds of drinking behaviors that significantly contribute to work-performance problems are drinking right before or during working hours. Moreover, heavy drinking at parties causes hangovers during work the next day. You should also be aware of the most addictive substances and keep a distance from them.
5. Increase Social Support
Defined as proactive communication, care, and understanding, the need for social support includes settings both within and outside of work. A good social support system alleviates stress, depression, and anxiety, which has a direct and beneficial effect on your psychological wellbeing as well as organizational productivity.
An effective social network has been identified as an important correlate of a variety of work outcomes. Even a growing body of research has also shown that social support at work is directly related to high job control, low depression, and high job productivity. You can also take a proactive approach to getting face time with professionals from similar industries or join local entrepreneur groups.
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