When you run your own business, the buck stops with you. That means it is you who continues working as your employees knock-off for the night, you who leads by example when a big project is due. It is tough work, if rewarding: but long, hard hours are not enough by themselves, when you’re striving for success. The work you do in those long hours needs to high quality, and plentiful. In other words – productive. What can you do to ensure those hours are productively spent when your energy is low?
There are several strategies you can combine as you see fit (and you might want to share these with your colleagues). For one, you should do all you can to improve your focus – it’s so easily lost when you’re tired. At the start of the day, schedule in however long you are likely to need to answer your emails. Then switch off your notifications, close down your email tabs, and swear off outside communication until the given time. Keeping your phone out of view can be helpful, too.
If your caffeine tolerance is weakening the effect of your coffee habit, it could be time to push it to the next level – with a so-called ‘bulletproof’ coffee. This is your regular coffee, but with a dash of coconut oil and two tablespoons of butter to give your brain a kick start (using coconut butter instead of these ingredients also seems to do the job). It’s certainly not one to try every day, but use it when you’re in a crisis and it might just see you through.
For more such productivity tricks, designed for when you need them most, have a look at STL’s new infographic. It provides 11 convenient ways to give yourself a concentration boost when your business depends on you.
