Taking care of yourself



How to be more productive working from homeMore men are choosing to work from home and ditch the traditional 9-5 to pursue financial independence working for themselves. Small online businesses or freelancing is making waves in the business world. Men looking for freedom are pursuing different avenues for income. However, working for yourself might not be the best option for you. It takes guts, hard-work, and the sheer will to succeed regardless of what life throws your way. Fear is the number one reason people don’t make the leap into entrepreneurship. No one said it was going to be easy making a living working for yourself. I’m here to tell you it’s not. Nothing about working for yourself is easy. Absolutely nothing. More than likely you will fail. You might be overwhelmed of what it’s like to have only yourself to answer to - no boss breathing down your neck. There’s no guarantees in the world of entrepreneurship. Your success solely relies on you.You might already have begun to dip your toes into the world of freelancing or small business ownership. If you have already made the plunge or have only five toes in, then these suggestions will help you make the most out of your time at home. Taking care of yourselfBefore you can take care of business, you need to take care of yourself. Your health is the foundation you need taken of first to be successful. You can’t go running with all cylinders firing at all times without your body running at peak performance.Don’t let the drive of being successful let you forget your human. Because you are. And burning out is a real thing. It happens even faster if you don’t take care of your body. Keeping a balanced work/life schedule adds more stress on your body than you think. People believe only manual labor is truly stressful and hard work. Physical exhaustion is one thing, but we can’t forget mental stress can be as harmful.Sleep rightSleep is the enemy of productivity, right? While you sleep you are not doing anything or getting anything done that will further your career. Actually, without sleep, you will never be as successful as your true potential. 7-9 quality hours of sleep is what you need every night. Emphasis on quality. Not lying in bed tossing and turning thinking about work. Unwind and relax. I am someone that struggled with this when I started working for myself. You want to know a secret?It wasn’t till I focused more on resting than I did on working that I started to see results. I was burning the candle at both ends at the beginning. Eventually, I burned out and decided that it was no longer worth the effort working for myself.One night I broke down, gave up, and with my head looking down in shame I went to bed. That was the best night’s sleep I had in a while. When I woke up the next day, to my surprise, I had the sudden urge to get back on my feet. Complete exhaustion is what it took for me to hit the bed like a ton of bricks. My body was craving rest, but like many others I saw that as a sign of weakness. I kept telling myself I wasn’t pushing hard enough. You don’t think right when you don’t sleep. No amounts of energy drinks and coffee can replace quality sleep. They might add a little more pep in your step, but without sleep you won’t even be standing to take that step.Whatever it is your working on, it will be there in the morning. Trust me. Well rested with a clear mind can accomplish more than any workaholic can dream of.Be mindful of your dietNot many jobs allow the pleasure of eating at your desk. But when your kitchen is in the other room, you can’t help but make the trip for one more snack. Don’t. It’s a slippery slope my friend. For one, snacking all day will wreak havoc on your body if you are eating junk. You know eating junk is bad. Proper nutrition fuels the mind for the upcoming daily tasks. Eating junk all day hinders the thought process. You are what you eat. The second reason is using a snack as an excuse to leave your workspace and become distracted. Distractions are the killer of productivity.ExerciseIf you ever had a desk job or lived in a cubicle like I did, then you know how easy it is to live a sedentary lifestyle. You sit all day, get used to, then go home and for some reason, although you sat all day, you are too tired to do anything else. As stressful as work may be, the benefits of exercise outweigh the need to sit on the couch after work. Don’t believe me? Here’s an article that will change your mind about inactivity.It’s common knowledge exercise is good for your health. You can also use exercise as a way to clear your mind - I do. Take the stresses of the day and exert them through physical activity. My mind is clear afterwards. The added benefit of better health helps me tackle my workday more productively. Have your body performing at its best before you take on the stress of working from home. Get in the work mode mindsetBody - check! Mind - almost there. If you don’t see yourself as an entrepreneur, you never will be one. By getting in the mindset of work mode, you take yourself out of being at home - into the office. Disregard Impostor syndrome for now. Right now, the focus is on transforming your home to your office.Create a workspaceFind somewhere distraction free and remove the idea that working from home means you’re at home. Most people imagine being at home is the ultimate luxury when it comes to work. It’s the complete opposite when you are trying to get things done. Knowing your bed is down the hall makes it that much easier to slack off.Don’t do it.Instead make room for your office. If it’s the kitchen table, so be it. As long as you know you’ll be distraction free. Not everyone can afford to have a home office. Make do with what you have as long as it’s somewhere you know you can focus on a task distraction free.This “workspace” is for work only. No personal tasks should be performed here. Why? Because that defeats the purpose. The goal is to separate home and work.Create a scheduleSet your business hours and stick to them. You can keep the 9-5 as long as you know for sure you won’t be tempted to leave work early. Life happens and you may need to call it quits early to take care of personal matters. Don’t make that a habit. Self-discipline is one of the keys to success.Time blocking has been beneficial to me and I only wish I started doing it sooner. Schedule your day so everything has time to be completed. Organizing your day efficiently will drastically improve your workflow. I struggled with time management and felt the end of the day came too fast with little to nothing to show for it. Now, my lunch break is the same every day. The time I check e-mails is the same every day. Everything is scheduled just like when I worked in a cubicle. You might think because you no longer are in an office you don’t have to follow anymore schedules. Turns out, you have to have more schedules. Dress for workThis suggestion probably won’t work for everyone; however, I dress as though I am going to work, and it has changed the way I feel throughout the day. At first, I felt weird dressing well to sit at the kitchen table. After a while, it became habit. Then it felt like I was no longer getting ready to sit at the kitchen table, but instead getting dressed for work like I did all those years.It was the habit of “getting ready” that changed the way I approached my day. Once again, your goal is to separate home from work. If you start your day dressed for bed, you’ll spend the whole day ready to go lay back down. Be done at the end of the dayRemember that schedule you should be working on? Stick to it by closing shop. I understand the constant need to be “open and accessible at all times.” You do more harm to yourself by becoming the workaholic. You have a life outside of work, go live it. Keep telling yourself that what isn’t done today, will be there in the morning. Not much has changed from when you left your 9-5 office job.Knowing you close at a certain time will keep you motivated to focus on your work. If you give yourself all the time in the world to work, then what’s to stop you from procrastinating all day? You can finish whenever, so why work so hard? If you still had that office job, would your boss appreciate that attitude? You are your boss, so it’s your responsibility to have your work done. That set time frame will ensure you will take care of business.RelaxNow for the toughest suggestion of them all - relax. Easier said than done when everything is dependent on you. All the more reason to relax. Being stressed gets you nowhere but to the grave faster. Stressing out all the time hinders your thought process. If you can’t think straight, then you can’t run a business.Take time to reflect on your past accomplishments, your present tasks, and your future goals. Notice how when you take a breath, things are never as bad as they seem. Take care of your body and get your mind right. After that, it becomes easier to focus on your goals. ................
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