As business owners and entrepreneurs we started our business expecting to be working 3-4 days a week, a few hours a day, right? Instead, we are lucky if we get a day off in a week, and work 14-18 hours a day. It is the hustle after all. No, it won’t be like this forever, but it is when you’re first starting. You have to get in there, get dirty, hustle and work for every penny you earn.
What if I have a secret to share with you that could increase your business productivity without ridiculous hours and all hustle and no grind at the early stages of your business? And don’t worry if you’ve been in business for a while, this secret works for you too!
Are you interested? Of course you are! Who doesn’t want to know how to increase their business productivity while decreasing the hours they work.
Take Time For You. That’s it. That’s the secret. I mean obviously it’s not that simple.
But seriously, taking time each day, a little each week, and those annual vacations will increase your business productivity 10x. It doesn’t matter what you do, just do it frequently. Step away and take time for you.
Unplugging for 30 minutes each day, taking a day off during the week, and not even thinking about work. Taking long weekends or a weeklong vacation and NOT working, as an entrepreneur for 20 years, I know that is so much easier said than done.
I just returned from a 10-day vacation and other than one team meeting with my business partner, I was not working that week. I was going to unplug, enjoy, and just not think about work. Work would still be there when I got back. And it was the most incredible vacation I have ever had. Doing nothing, not worrying about what needed to be done in the business; knowing I would deal with whatever it was when I got back.
When I got back from vacation and got back to the grind and hustle of the business, I accomplished more on my first day back than I usually would do in 2-3 days. I had such clarity and focus and was able to just dive in without hesitation. You’re not going to lose your abilities for taking some time off, if anything those abilities are enhanced and work better than ever. And that has stuck with me for the weeks returning.
I was also more in alignment with my passion and what I wanted to be doing. I was able to delegate and assign tasks that didn’t serve me so I could focus on the tasks that did, making me so much more productive and delivering quality products and services without a second thought.
This aspect, in turn, validates your work and abilities. When you ease through your work because it’s what you’re passionate and skilled at, that just validates what you already know and makes you even more powerful and productive in your day-to-day work.
Most importantly, when you take the time for yourself, you are able to come back to work with a refreshed, renewed and ready to work mentality and you hit the ground running. The work you are able to put out and provide your clients or the impact you’re able to make in your business is incredible, when you follow that one little secret. Take Time For You. You matter.
