what do you do
Content
So what do you do at night before you sleep? Do you watch television? Do you surf the web and
this is how you found this blog? Or do you spend quality time with your family?
What about successful people? What do they do at night before they sleep? Here are 10 things
they do…
1. Wrap up the day
Decide that the day has ended and you will go into another phase of the day. If you work until 6
pm, make sure that you get your work done and end your day so you can focus on another part of
your life. Life is short, you want to do as much as possible. So if you have promised dinner
with your family, make sure you do that.
You have to allocate your time for each category well. Sleep, work and time for other activities.
You already allocate most of your time to sleep and work, thus, when the clock hits 6 pm or 7
pm, just stop and spend the rest of the day doing other important activities in your life.
2. Read books
Many successful people in the world are voracious readers. They read and they learn from what
others talk about. Do you know that reading and learning can shortcut your journey to success?
In fact, many great people including Bill Gates, read books or articles until they feel tired and
then go to bed after.
Tim Armstrong, the CEO of AOL, recently told the Guardian that he gets home around 8 pm and
then reads to his daughters. “They usually win and get two or three books,” he says.
3. Spend quality time with family and friends
Yep, success starts from within. You have to spend quality time with your family and friends in
order to get connected and stay connected. Some people choose to meet up with their friends
every Wednesday, and the rest of the days they will just spend time with their family members. It
all depends on how you allocate your time.
4. Plan and get ready for the next day
This is one of the most important things you can do before you sleep. Planning for tomorrow,
writing down what you need to do and get ready for the next day to come. For instance, most
people will iron their clothes and get all the relevant documents that they need to use for the next
day ready before they sleep. You should do the same.
If you do this, you will wake up and know exactly what you need to do the next day. You will
become more effective and more productive because you’re ready and everything is within
your reach. Conversely, if you’re not ready for the next day, imagine what can go wrong. You
wake up late, can’t find your clothes to iron, you forget where you put your important documents
for meeting, etc. Your day will be in a mess. So always plan your coming days the night before.
5. Unplug from the world
Enough of the working world? You may want to get unplug from everything. This is especially
crucial in our modern world where anyone can connect to you and distract your moment. Your
phone can ring anytime if you did not turn it off. There are times where you want to get
disconnected and stay away from your work. There are also times when you want to just be
alone. Studies have shown that when you are alone, you are more engaged with yourself.
6. Meditation
Another great thing you may want to practice at night. Meditation is good for both your mental
health and physical health. Meditation works as a recharge for your energy and get you focus in
what you want. You feel deeply relaxed after the hustle and bustle of the day. Now it is time for
you to stay relax for both your mind and your body. So learn to practice meditation each night
before you sleep. You can start with just five to 10 minutes.
7. Envision tomorrow
One of the best ways to get ready for what’s coming is to envision it. Just like how visualization
works, when you think about your perfect days, you will be more prepared and have the
confidence to go through everything that comes along.
Spend at least five minutes thinking about the next day before you sleep. Envision what you will
do and how you will do it. Imagine who you will talk to and how you are going to deal with it.
Of course, when you envision it, you must envision everything going smooth and in perfect
manner. All problems arises will be solved by you, and this is how you can really come up with a
productive days.
8. Write down accomplishments for the day
What have you accomplished during the day? Some people will say none because they don’t
think they are productive on the day.
When you feel grateful that you have proper lunch, proper dinner and able to get home safely
and able to spend great moments with your family, you will feel deep joy within. On the other
hand, if you don’t feel thankful for all that you have, you will feel stressed, pressured and
insufficient. You will have the feeling of “not enough” even if you already have everything.
Therefore, write down at least three to five things that you appreciated and have accomplished
during the day every night when you plan for the next day. Write down big and small successes
you have done. Even if it is just a phone call, five minutes reading, etc. Write them down and
practice the habit of appreciation.
9. Get things done
Will you go to the next day with unfinished work? If you know you still have one task to do but
it is already night fall, would you sleep and get it done tomorrow? Well it depends on your
personality and how much time the task is going to take.
Most successful people will get things done before they go to bed. They are committed and
make sure that they get every important thing done as promised. For example, if you still have
clients with whom to follow up, and it is already 6 pm or 7 pm where you want to leave the
office, what you can do is to reply their email telling them that you will follow up with them the
next day. At least this will help you to ease your tension and let your client know that you did not
neglect them.
10. Get enough sleep
Do you have enough sleep? And do you know that getting enough hours of sleep is one of the
most important energy sources for you when you wake up the next day? If you don’t get enough
sleep, you will feel lethargic and tired. You will not be able to get things done and have a
productive day if you’re tired.
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur (or successful at anything) you have to know how to
get stuff done. These 21 successful young entrepreneurs shared their best productivity advice.
1. Schedule tasks like college classes
Michael Pomposello, 24-year-old founder of Influencer Connect, says you should schedule your
tasks on your calendar, during set times just like college classes.
“A task I estimate will take 15 minutes to complete will usually be done in 10 or 15 since I am
focused on getting that done during the set time. Without setting a deadline I may wander and do
other things causing this one task to take 30 or even 45 minutes.”
2. Delete it, don’t reschedule it
Omer Perchik, 30-year-old founder of Any.do, says you should be realistic about what is
important and realistic to get done.
“When you find yourself constantly rescheduling something, you need to ask whether it actually
*needs* to be on your task list. The most successful people really know how to focus on their
priorities, so they’re comfortable with deleting tasks that aren’t highly relevant. “
3. Avoid distractions
Shannon Palme, 28-year-old founder of Shannon Palme Web & Graphic Design, says you have
to avoid distractions at all cost.
“It’s really tempting when you’re acting as your own boss to visit time-sucking websites like
Facebook and Reddit, and what you might intend as a 10 minute break can easily turn into losing
hours of valuable work time. I use a free extension for Chrome called Block Site, so that I’m not
able to visit websites that distract me while I’m working.”
4. Never ever answer the phone
Paula Rizzo, 34-year-old founder of listproducer.com, says you should never ever pick up the
phone unless you are expecting the call.
“Never, ever answer your phone. Not unless the person on the other line has an appointment to
talk to you right at that moment. This will cut down on distractions and derailing your day!”
5. Stay on top of your health
Selena Narayanasamy, 29-year-old founder of Orthris, says you have to take care of your health.
“You have to build in time to work out and manage your health. A typical day for me involves a
set number of working hours, time to actually make or grab something healthy to eat, and I
schedule in (yes, actually schedule in) my workout hours. Even though I’m working less, I have
a higher output and I’m more responsive and helpful to my clients.”
6. Have a morning brain purge
Jay Clouse, 23-year-old COO of Tixers, says you should dump everything out of your mind first
thing in the morning.
“For the first 1-1.5 hours of my day, my brain is not prepared to start work. I work out every day,
so I can order my thoughts while I work out, and also knock off one of my daily needs. This
prevents me from trying to “end” work early to get to the gym, because it’s already done.”
7. Create a sustainable routine
Sean Dudayev, 24-year-old Founder of InsureChance, says you should have a daily routine that
you can stick to.
“When building a company it’s easy to get caught up in a fast paced, energy drink, fast food
fueled nights turning into mornings work hours. However that is simply not sustainable in the
long run. Eventually you will experience a burn out that makes every mole hill seem like a
mountain. The fix to this is establishing a routine daily to make sure you hit on all the things that
will create long term, sustainable progress. I was able to do this without sacrificing work ethic,
which is a fear for most young entrepreneurs. “
8. Always set deadlines
Tyler Brewer, 24-year-old founder of co-creator of Spontivity, says you should have a deadline
for everything.
“Whether it’s making a decision, writing a blog, or completing a task, everything needs a
deadline. Entrepreneurs are inundated with a variety of tasks everyday and being efficient was
something I was terrible at before I started setting a deadline for everything I did. Decisions need
to be made promptly and setting deadlines helps those decisions get made. “
9. Set a specific time of the day to check email
Jenelle Augustin, 25-year-old founder of RESTore Silk, says you have to set aside only one
specific time each day for email.
“Set a specific time of day to check email to avoid distractions. If I do not need to be on the
Internet, I put my devices on airplane mode until my task is finished. I learned this out of
necessity to keep myself from getting distracted so easily.”
10. Turn off email notifications
Marc Guberti, 16-year-old co-founder of Teenager Entrepreneur, says you don’t need to be
interrupted every time you get an email.
“Each time I saw the new email notification, I always felt obliged to see what that message was.
Each time you look at your inbox, you are losing valuable time. When I am working on creating
a product, I remove the mail icon from my Mac’s home screen. That way, I am not even tempted
to look at my inbox since I cannot see it.”
11. Batch your tasks
Tiffany Mason, 24-year-old founder of Mason Coaching and Consulting, says you should batch
your tasks.
“I discovered this tip after listening to an audio from motivational speaker, Brian Tracy. He
recommends that you should batch your tasks. For example, check and respond to emails all at
once. Make your phone calls all at once.This saves you a lot of time. I check my email once a
day at 1pm and I make my phone calls once a day at 2pm.”
12. Create a weekly strategy document
Jason Parks, 26-year-old Owner of The Media Captain, says you should create a strategy before
beginning every week.
“Each week on Sunday morning, I sit down for 60-90 minutes and make a strategy document for
what I want to accomplish for the upcoming workweek. I am able to create a to-do list but more
importantly, I come up with proactive ideas for the company. The key to success for this
strategy document is having a clear mind. “
13. Get to inbox zero every day
Sean Butler, 25-year-old founding member of LeanBox, says you should clear out your inbox
every day.
“There is a tremendous amount of additional data to manage, and I work from our headquarters,
our operations center, and remotely. I like to work from desktop computers, so I have a different
computer at each space and a tablet that I use remotely. The only way to manage
everything without losing my mind and sleep is by keeping my email inbox to zero at the end of
every day.”
14. Do the one thing that would make you satisfied with your day
Greg Archbald, 29-year-old founder of GreaseBook, says you should identify what would make
your day a success.
“Ask yourself, “what’s the one thing I could accomplish today that would make me satisfied with
my day?” Now, block out at 2-3 hours to focus on that one, stinking item. Let the rest of the
urgent BS fade to the background.”
15. Prioritize
Matthew Eagan, 30-year-old CEO of imagefreedom, says you must prioritize your tasks by what
will get you results.
“Prioritize the things that must happen without forgetting the things that should happen as those
always seem to be the biggest revenue generators.”
16. Use the Pomodoro Technique
Shaun Walker, 30-year-old cofounder of HEROFarm, recommends using the Pomodoro
Technique to improve your energy level.
“Follow the Pomodoro Technique, and move around at least once an hour to get the blood
flowing.”
There are five basic steps to implementing the technique:
1.
Decide
on
the
task
to
be
done
2.
Set
the
Pomodoro
timer
to
*n*
minutes
(traditionally
25)
3. Work
on the task until the timer rings;
record with an
*x*
4.
Take
a
short
break
(3–5
minutes)
5. After four Pomodori, take a longer break (15–30 minutes)
17. Run every task through an impact vs. effort analysis
Joshua Dziabiak, 27-year-old founder of The Zebra, says you have to understand the amount of
impact a task will have relative to the amount of effort it takes.
“As an entrepreneur, you have to make peace with the fact that your to-do list is never going to
be truly complete. I’ve found that it’s less important for me to get every single thing on my list
completed, and more important for me to instead fully tackle the things that immediately move
the needle. By constantly asking yourself which tasks require the least effort but yield the most
impact, you will move faster toward your larger goal. “
18. Never, ever procrastinate
Vincent Dolliole Jr., 19-year-old fashion blogger, warns that procrastination will steal your life
away if you let it.
“So many people my age and younger let procrastination get the best of them. When I don’t feel
like doing something I just ask myself this question: “If procrastination was a thief who was
blatantly and continually stealing money from me, would I continue to let him do it?” Asking
myself that question is usually enough give me a massive surge of motivation.”
19. Work even when you don’t feel like it
Cody McClain, 24-year-old founder of WireFuseMedia, says you still have to do the stuff you
don’t want to do.
“As an entrepreneur for 10 years now, I’ve learned that you have to do things even if you don’t
feel like it. There is nobody above you forcing you to do the difficult parts. At some point I
realized this is not school anymore and there is no teacher giving me an assignment that is due
next week. Part of becoming an entrepreneur is realizing there is never a right time to do the
things you need to do in order to move the business forward.”
20. Journal daily, even when it seems like there’s no time
Anna DiTommaso, 25-year-old founder of Creative80, says you should journal every single day
no matter what.
“Writing is a way to help process things. It clears your mind of thoughts that would otherwise
sap your energy and provides a sounding board for ideas. That’s important when you work alone.
It also gives you a point of reference for when you fall on tough times and want to find your way
back to good. When I write on a daily basis, I am much more productive and hold myself to
much higher standards. Even when I am working a 14 hour day, I realize the necessity of
writing.”
21. Set fun activities outside of work
Tim Halberg, 34-year-old founder of Tim Halberg Photography, says you should schedule fun
activities outside work to motivate you to finish on time.
“Schedule activities outside of work, like a round of golf in the afternoon. I’ve found this forces
me to get my work done in time to get out the door. It’s funny how much you can get done when
presented with a hard deadline. I discovered this by taking a two week backpacking trip and
realizing my business was caught up before I left and that nothing died while I was gone. I
decided I needed to recreate this as a normal piece of my weekly schedule.”
this is how you found this blog? Or do you spend quality time with your family?
What about successful people? What do they do at night before they sleep? Here are 10 things
they do…
1. Wrap up the day
Decide that the day has ended and you will go into another phase of the day. If you work until 6
pm, make sure that you get your work done and end your day so you can focus on another part of
your life. Life is short, you want to do as much as possible. So if you have promised dinner
with your family, make sure you do that.
You have to allocate your time for each category well. Sleep, work and time for other activities.
You already allocate most of your time to sleep and work, thus, when the clock hits 6 pm or 7
pm, just stop and spend the rest of the day doing other important activities in your life.
2. Read books
Many successful people in the world are voracious readers. They read and they learn from what
others talk about. Do you know that reading and learning can shortcut your journey to success?
In fact, many great people including Bill Gates, read books or articles until they feel tired and
then go to bed after.
Tim Armstrong, the CEO of AOL, recently told the Guardian that he gets home around 8 pm and
then reads to his daughters. “They usually win and get two or three books,” he says.
3. Spend quality time with family and friends
Yep, success starts from within. You have to spend quality time with your family and friends in
order to get connected and stay connected. Some people choose to meet up with their friends
every Wednesday, and the rest of the days they will just spend time with their family members. It
all depends on how you allocate your time.
4. Plan and get ready for the next day
This is one of the most important things you can do before you sleep. Planning for tomorrow,
writing down what you need to do and get ready for the next day to come. For instance, most
people will iron their clothes and get all the relevant documents that they need to use for the next
day ready before they sleep. You should do the same.
If you do this, you will wake up and know exactly what you need to do the next day. You will
become more effective and more productive because you’re ready and everything is within
your reach. Conversely, if you’re not ready for the next day, imagine what can go wrong. You
wake up late, can’t find your clothes to iron, you forget where you put your important documents
for meeting, etc. Your day will be in a mess. So always plan your coming days the night before.
5. Unplug from the world
Enough of the working world? You may want to get unplug from everything. This is especially
crucial in our modern world where anyone can connect to you and distract your moment. Your
phone can ring anytime if you did not turn it off. There are times where you want to get
disconnected and stay away from your work. There are also times when you want to just be
alone. Studies have shown that when you are alone, you are more engaged with yourself.
6. Meditation
Another great thing you may want to practice at night. Meditation is good for both your mental
health and physical health. Meditation works as a recharge for your energy and get you focus in
what you want. You feel deeply relaxed after the hustle and bustle of the day. Now it is time for
you to stay relax for both your mind and your body. So learn to practice meditation each night
before you sleep. You can start with just five to 10 minutes.
7. Envision tomorrow
One of the best ways to get ready for what’s coming is to envision it. Just like how visualization
works, when you think about your perfect days, you will be more prepared and have the
confidence to go through everything that comes along.
Spend at least five minutes thinking about the next day before you sleep. Envision what you will
do and how you will do it. Imagine who you will talk to and how you are going to deal with it.
Of course, when you envision it, you must envision everything going smooth and in perfect
manner. All problems arises will be solved by you, and this is how you can really come up with a
productive days.
8. Write down accomplishments for the day
What have you accomplished during the day? Some people will say none because they don’t
think they are productive on the day.
When you feel grateful that you have proper lunch, proper dinner and able to get home safely
and able to spend great moments with your family, you will feel deep joy within. On the other
hand, if you don’t feel thankful for all that you have, you will feel stressed, pressured and
insufficient. You will have the feeling of “not enough” even if you already have everything.
Therefore, write down at least three to five things that you appreciated and have accomplished
during the day every night when you plan for the next day. Write down big and small successes
you have done. Even if it is just a phone call, five minutes reading, etc. Write them down and
practice the habit of appreciation.
9. Get things done
Will you go to the next day with unfinished work? If you know you still have one task to do but
it is already night fall, would you sleep and get it done tomorrow? Well it depends on your
personality and how much time the task is going to take.
Most successful people will get things done before they go to bed. They are committed and
make sure that they get every important thing done as promised. For example, if you still have
clients with whom to follow up, and it is already 6 pm or 7 pm where you want to leave the
office, what you can do is to reply their email telling them that you will follow up with them the
next day. At least this will help you to ease your tension and let your client know that you did not
neglect them.
10. Get enough sleep
Do you have enough sleep? And do you know that getting enough hours of sleep is one of the
most important energy sources for you when you wake up the next day? If you don’t get enough
sleep, you will feel lethargic and tired. You will not be able to get things done and have a
productive day if you’re tired.
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur (or successful at anything) you have to know how to
get stuff done. These 21 successful young entrepreneurs shared their best productivity advice.
1. Schedule tasks like college classes
Michael Pomposello, 24-year-old founder of Influencer Connect, says you should schedule your
tasks on your calendar, during set times just like college classes.
“A task I estimate will take 15 minutes to complete will usually be done in 10 or 15 since I am
focused on getting that done during the set time. Without setting a deadline I may wander and do
other things causing this one task to take 30 or even 45 minutes.”
2. Delete it, don’t reschedule it
Omer Perchik, 30-year-old founder of Any.do, says you should be realistic about what is
important and realistic to get done.
“When you find yourself constantly rescheduling something, you need to ask whether it actually
*needs* to be on your task list. The most successful people really know how to focus on their
priorities, so they’re comfortable with deleting tasks that aren’t highly relevant. “
3. Avoid distractions
Shannon Palme, 28-year-old founder of Shannon Palme Web & Graphic Design, says you have
to avoid distractions at all cost.
“It’s really tempting when you’re acting as your own boss to visit time-sucking websites like
Facebook and Reddit, and what you might intend as a 10 minute break can easily turn into losing
hours of valuable work time. I use a free extension for Chrome called Block Site, so that I’m not
able to visit websites that distract me while I’m working.”
4. Never ever answer the phone
Paula Rizzo, 34-year-old founder of listproducer.com, says you should never ever pick up the
phone unless you are expecting the call.
“Never, ever answer your phone. Not unless the person on the other line has an appointment to
talk to you right at that moment. This will cut down on distractions and derailing your day!”
5. Stay on top of your health
Selena Narayanasamy, 29-year-old founder of Orthris, says you have to take care of your health.
“You have to build in time to work out and manage your health. A typical day for me involves a
set number of working hours, time to actually make or grab something healthy to eat, and I
schedule in (yes, actually schedule in) my workout hours. Even though I’m working less, I have
a higher output and I’m more responsive and helpful to my clients.”
6. Have a morning brain purge
Jay Clouse, 23-year-old COO of Tixers, says you should dump everything out of your mind first
thing in the morning.
“For the first 1-1.5 hours of my day, my brain is not prepared to start work. I work out every day,
so I can order my thoughts while I work out, and also knock off one of my daily needs. This
prevents me from trying to “end” work early to get to the gym, because it’s already done.”
7. Create a sustainable routine
Sean Dudayev, 24-year-old Founder of InsureChance, says you should have a daily routine that
you can stick to.
“When building a company it’s easy to get caught up in a fast paced, energy drink, fast food
fueled nights turning into mornings work hours. However that is simply not sustainable in the
long run. Eventually you will experience a burn out that makes every mole hill seem like a
mountain. The fix to this is establishing a routine daily to make sure you hit on all the things that
will create long term, sustainable progress. I was able to do this without sacrificing work ethic,
which is a fear for most young entrepreneurs. “
8. Always set deadlines
Tyler Brewer, 24-year-old founder of co-creator of Spontivity, says you should have a deadline
for everything.
“Whether it’s making a decision, writing a blog, or completing a task, everything needs a
deadline. Entrepreneurs are inundated with a variety of tasks everyday and being efficient was
something I was terrible at before I started setting a deadline for everything I did. Decisions need
to be made promptly and setting deadlines helps those decisions get made. “
9. Set a specific time of the day to check email
Jenelle Augustin, 25-year-old founder of RESTore Silk, says you have to set aside only one
specific time each day for email.
“Set a specific time of day to check email to avoid distractions. If I do not need to be on the
Internet, I put my devices on airplane mode until my task is finished. I learned this out of
necessity to keep myself from getting distracted so easily.”
10. Turn off email notifications
Marc Guberti, 16-year-old co-founder of Teenager Entrepreneur, says you don’t need to be
interrupted every time you get an email.
“Each time I saw the new email notification, I always felt obliged to see what that message was.
Each time you look at your inbox, you are losing valuable time. When I am working on creating
a product, I remove the mail icon from my Mac’s home screen. That way, I am not even tempted
to look at my inbox since I cannot see it.”
11. Batch your tasks
Tiffany Mason, 24-year-old founder of Mason Coaching and Consulting, says you should batch
your tasks.
“I discovered this tip after listening to an audio from motivational speaker, Brian Tracy. He
recommends that you should batch your tasks. For example, check and respond to emails all at
once. Make your phone calls all at once.This saves you a lot of time. I check my email once a
day at 1pm and I make my phone calls once a day at 2pm.”
12. Create a weekly strategy document
Jason Parks, 26-year-old Owner of The Media Captain, says you should create a strategy before
beginning every week.
“Each week on Sunday morning, I sit down for 60-90 minutes and make a strategy document for
what I want to accomplish for the upcoming workweek. I am able to create a to-do list but more
importantly, I come up with proactive ideas for the company. The key to success for this
strategy document is having a clear mind. “
13. Get to inbox zero every day
Sean Butler, 25-year-old founding member of LeanBox, says you should clear out your inbox
every day.
“There is a tremendous amount of additional data to manage, and I work from our headquarters,
our operations center, and remotely. I like to work from desktop computers, so I have a different
computer at each space and a tablet that I use remotely. The only way to manage
everything without losing my mind and sleep is by keeping my email inbox to zero at the end of
every day.”
14. Do the one thing that would make you satisfied with your day
Greg Archbald, 29-year-old founder of GreaseBook, says you should identify what would make
your day a success.
“Ask yourself, “what’s the one thing I could accomplish today that would make me satisfied with
my day?” Now, block out at 2-3 hours to focus on that one, stinking item. Let the rest of the
urgent BS fade to the background.”
15. Prioritize
Matthew Eagan, 30-year-old CEO of imagefreedom, says you must prioritize your tasks by what
will get you results.
“Prioritize the things that must happen without forgetting the things that should happen as those
always seem to be the biggest revenue generators.”
16. Use the Pomodoro Technique
Shaun Walker, 30-year-old cofounder of HEROFarm, recommends using the Pomodoro
Technique to improve your energy level.
“Follow the Pomodoro Technique, and move around at least once an hour to get the blood
flowing.”
There are five basic steps to implementing the technique:
1.
Decide
on
the
task
to
be
done
2.
Set
the
Pomodoro
timer
to
*n*
minutes
(traditionally
25)
3. Work
on the task until the timer rings;
record with an
*x*
4.
Take
a
short
break
(3–5
minutes)
5. After four Pomodori, take a longer break (15–30 minutes)
17. Run every task through an impact vs. effort analysis
Joshua Dziabiak, 27-year-old founder of The Zebra, says you have to understand the amount of
impact a task will have relative to the amount of effort it takes.
“As an entrepreneur, you have to make peace with the fact that your to-do list is never going to
be truly complete. I’ve found that it’s less important for me to get every single thing on my list
completed, and more important for me to instead fully tackle the things that immediately move
the needle. By constantly asking yourself which tasks require the least effort but yield the most
impact, you will move faster toward your larger goal. “
18. Never, ever procrastinate
Vincent Dolliole Jr., 19-year-old fashion blogger, warns that procrastination will steal your life
away if you let it.
“So many people my age and younger let procrastination get the best of them. When I don’t feel
like doing something I just ask myself this question: “If procrastination was a thief who was
blatantly and continually stealing money from me, would I continue to let him do it?” Asking
myself that question is usually enough give me a massive surge of motivation.”
19. Work even when you don’t feel like it
Cody McClain, 24-year-old founder of WireFuseMedia, says you still have to do the stuff you
don’t want to do.
“As an entrepreneur for 10 years now, I’ve learned that you have to do things even if you don’t
feel like it. There is nobody above you forcing you to do the difficult parts. At some point I
realized this is not school anymore and there is no teacher giving me an assignment that is due
next week. Part of becoming an entrepreneur is realizing there is never a right time to do the
things you need to do in order to move the business forward.”
20. Journal daily, even when it seems like there’s no time
Anna DiTommaso, 25-year-old founder of Creative80, says you should journal every single day
no matter what.
“Writing is a way to help process things. It clears your mind of thoughts that would otherwise
sap your energy and provides a sounding board for ideas. That’s important when you work alone.
It also gives you a point of reference for when you fall on tough times and want to find your way
back to good. When I write on a daily basis, I am much more productive and hold myself to
much higher standards. Even when I am working a 14 hour day, I realize the necessity of
writing.”
21. Set fun activities outside of work
Tim Halberg, 34-year-old founder of Tim Halberg Photography, says you should schedule fun
activities outside work to motivate you to finish on time.
“Schedule activities outside of work, like a round of golf in the afternoon. I’ve found this forces
me to get my work done in time to get out the door. It’s funny how much you can get done when
presented with a hard deadline. I discovered this by taking a two week backpacking trip and
realizing my business was caught up before I left and that nothing died while I was gone. I
decided I needed to recreate this as a normal piece of my weekly schedule.”
