5 Daily Habits of the Most Successful Entrepreneurs This article aims to give any aspiring entrepreneur a head start in building those critical habits that all entrepreneurs need, or help reassert them for current entrepreneurs.
5 daily habits of the most successful entrepreneurs
- Create a routine
Every morning and evening I do the same thing. Wake up, wash your face/brush your teeth, meditate (better when you’re still a little dreamy), work out your body weight, have breakfast than make your Sunday meal. Every evening I have a separate routine that includes hygiene, journaling, and getting ready for tomorrow.
This helps me stay down to earth and consistent.
The best entrepreneurs build a daily, weekly, and monthly routine like a practical one in keeping their sanity, productivity and happiness happy. Entrepreneurship is stressful and you will find that a stable routine becomes the cornerstone of your life.
- Start with the hardest important days
Known as “eat the frog,” this means that when you’re refreshed early in the day, start with the most frustrating, stressful, or procrastinating task.
This has a range of benefits.
It makes every other task seem easier in comparison.
It instantly gives you a dopamine rush to get something done worthwhile.
It prevents you from procrastinating on important tasks for a long time.
I’m glad you read this article, but the second I finished reading it, go eat the frog. The rest of your day will seem like a breeze by comparison.
- Workout and Meditation
I struggle with this myself. It’s easy to follow a routine when life is easy. But the second I’m traveling, I’m worried or nervous about something, or I’m just busy. I give up on my morning routine in an effort to find time or space for myself, sometimes quite by accident.
I’m sure you guessed it just makes things worse. I became irritable, feeling sluggish, my mind foggy and eventually became generally less productive even with the “extra” time.
Don’t make excuses. Physical fitness and mental calm are essential to a happy lifestyle. They are the building blocks of productivity not just for days, weeks or months. But years and decades. I want to be a vital member of my community in old age, and making a little effort every day for your health is how you get there. Find an activity, sport or exercise that works for you and make it a habit by holding yourself accountable.
- Plan tomorrow, today
As part of my nightly routine, I make a to-do list for tomorrow, and plan how to tie different meetings, appointments, etc. together. This allows me to pack my bag, defrost my meal, and generally get ready for tomorrow when I’m awake and alert. So when I wake up feeling groggy and tired, I don’t have to worry about it.
Give this a shot tonight, you’ll find it takes less time than you thought. This gives you some understanding about tomorrow that you didn’t have before (including what your frog is eating), and helps you pick up on things you might have missed (meetings you forgot about etc.)
- Align yourself with your priorities
The common way to do this is to set a goal. I keep an Excel spreadsheet with short, medium and long term goals and refer to it often to keep the bigger picture of my work in focus. Some people find having timeframes like 1, 3 and 5 years helpful but I find it easy to procrastinate on later ones. The trick with this system is to move forward with goals constantly as the situation in your life changes.
For example, I always wanted to complete the Iron Man Triathlon, but it has always been a goal for over 3 years for me. But I specified that I have a period of time where I can work on something like this. I’ve researched my long-term goals, thought of different scenarios, and thought Iron Man would fit in well with this group, and now he’s been training for several months in preparation. I just finished the Toronto Marathon as part of my hands-on training. This is the power of these goal setting systems. They give you space for what matters.