5 Essential Habits For Entrepreneurs
When I first started working for myself, I was all over the place. I didn’t know which projects to work on and would often feel overwhelmed. It took some time, but I have cultivated habits that have helped me become a better entrepreneur - staying on top of what’s important and finding success from my efforts.
Below, I’ve outlined the five essential habits that I’ve found have made the biggest difference in my entrepreneurial journey.
Start Your Day With The Right Mindset
This has been the most powerful habit that I’ve created for myself. Every morning, I hit the trail behind my house, headphones in and practice what I like to think of as “a moving meditation”. I require myself to do this before checking email, turning on the TV or looking through any messages on my phone.
My days can vary, but the things that I always do are:
Breath exercises
Visualization of my goals
Practice mantras (or the beliefs of who I want to be a year from now)
Setting the tone and energy for your day is so important. You don’t have to do what I do, but find something for yourself that raises your energy and puts you in the mindset of achieving your goals and becoming the person that you want to be.
Prioritize What’s Important
As entrepreneurs, it's easy to find yourself with a lot on your plate. There’s always something new to learn or a piece of content to create - it’s the nature of the game.
Here are my tips for keeping what’s most important at the top of your list:
Find ways to outsource. What can you take off your list or have someone else do? Try to get as much off of your list before you even begin. Whether that’s hiring a VA or paying a friend who specializes in something that you need done.
Say ‘No’. This can be a hard thing to do - especially when you’re starting and looking for every opportunity to grow your business. Ask yourself if an opportunity will help you get closer to your end goal? If it doesn’t, then give a polite, “thanks, but no thanks”.
Plan out your calendar. This has been the most impactful for me because I have a tendency to add too much to my to-do list. I use my Google Calendar as my to-do list. I block out time during the week for everything that is most important to get done. Then if there’s something that doesn’t fit, I need to reassess my priorities and either take something off or let it go.
Make Time For Yourself Every Day
It is so easy to get sucked into tunnel vision and find yourself working on a project for hours and hours on end. You may be able to keep this up for a few days, but you are slowly depleting yourself.
You can’t create amazing things running on empty.
So, if you liked my strategy of planning out your day and creating realistic to-do list by adding tasks to your calendar, then plan out when you’re going to take breaks, work-out and stop for the day.
Practice Gratitude
Gratitude is one of the most powerful feelings - it’s impossible to feel lack, resentment, or anxiety when you are truly in a place of gratitude.
Gratitude is important for entrepreneurs, because acknowledging what you have created or your many successes will help you create more of them. A simple concept in manifesting is that you get what you focus on. If you’re focused on what you are lacking, you’re going to have a hard time getting. If you’re focused on gratitude and the feeling of thankfulness, blessings will come your way much easier.
I like to create gratitude lists in my journal or add a few minutes during my morning mindset practice to really feel and give thanks for the things in my life.
Set 30 or 90 Day Goals & Complete Them
How many times have you started a project, only to set it aside and start another project?
Hand raised over here.
One of the most important habits of successful entrepreneurs is to finish what you’ve started. Set a clear short-term, 30 to 90 day goal and commit to it. If there are other projects that come up, then add them to the queue. Just because you don’t drop everything in the moment to chase the next shiny thing, doesn’t mean you never get to it. Review the list of “projects I’d like to do next” after your current project is done. If you have more ideas to choose from, then chances are you’re going to make a better choice for your next project and will have an easier time sticking to it.
I use Asana for my project management and have a project titled "Pipeline". This is where I store all those great ideas that I'd like to work on next instead of interrupting my current project.
I hope you've found these five habits helpful. These are the things that have truly made a difference in my life and success as an entrepreneur. I hope you try a few out for yourself!
