Category: Work Life

It’s well-known that entrepreneurs must dedicate a lot of their time to getting their businesses off the ground in order to be successful. It’s not uncommon to hear of a business owner working 60 or more hours a week in pursuit of that success. However, this amount of work can have a major negative impact on one’s mental and physical health.

Tips to Cut Down Working Hours

To address the issue, busy professionals need to find a way to work smarter and gradually reduce the number of hours spent running their businesses. That’s why we asked 12 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:

“Working hard is important, but working too hard can impact your health. What’s one practical step busy entrepreneurs can take to reduce a 60-hour work week to 30-40 hours?”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say.

1. Timeblock

“Put your rest activities into your calendar just as much as you put your work activities there. It’s the only way you can effectively force yourself to take time for yourself.” ~ Nicole Munoz, Nicole Munoz Consulting, Inc.

2. Let Your Experts Work

“It may sound obvious to some people, but not so obvious for the others: As a business leader, you don’t have to do everything by yourself. Your main job is to mentor and coach the people who work on all the elements of the business. Take a look at all the tasks that you do. I’m sure you already have dedicated experts in your team to deal with some of these. Then, fire yourself. Let people work.” ~ Solomon Thimothy,OneIMS

3. Divide Tasks By Size

“I divide tasks that I need to accomplish by size. Then, I figure out what size task I’m best able to complete at a certain time of day. Since I’m a morning person, I find it easier to accomplish large tasks quickly at the beginning of the day and then smaller tasks toward the end. However, you might prefer working on large tasks toward the end of the day. It depends on your productivity habits.” ~ Bryce Welker, Beat The CPA

4. Be Realistic

“We’ve all heard that people overestimate what they can do in a week, but underestimate what they can do in five years. If you want to keep your work weeks to a minimum, start being honest about what you can accomplish in a week. Identifying the most important thing you can be working on to affect the bottom line of your company each day is key. Then do that 40 hours per week.” ~ Matt Wilson, Under30Experiences

5. Leverage Automation

“If entrepreneurs aren’t leveraging automation yet, then they need to. Marketing automation performs routine, everyday tasks for you so you can spend your time wisely and still get more done. It’s easier to stay productive and meet deadlines when you have technology working for you.” ~ Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

6. Set Clear Boundaries

“Only with clear boundaries for their time will a driven entrepreneur find that balance. Many successful entrepreneurs leave their industries after a few short years to build a family or pursue their passion because they are unable to have both. The only way I am able to “work to live” is by design, and I assure you it’s worth the effort. Set clear boundaries and respect them.” ~ Reuben Yonatan, SaasList

7. Cultivate and Build Leaders

“The right mindset, leadership and systems are key. In order to greatly reduce your time, you’re going to have to trust people. Then you need to cultivate and build leaders within your organization. To be successful you should have a system where those leaders routinely meet with clear goals and agendas around managing and growing the company. That’s it. Enjoy your time off.” ~ Kevin Getch, Webfor

8. Outsource Tedious Tasks

“If an entrepreneur doesn’t have the resources to hire in-house and delegate certain tasks, they can outsource tedious tasks that don’t generate revenue. For example, the following tasks could be outsourced: blog content creation, social media marketing, website design, payroll and bookkeeping.” ~ Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC

9. Recharge Between Work Sessions

“Avoiding long hours is hard, but taking breaks in between tasks can alleviate the pain. If long hours span from early strategy calls through late-evening client meetings, make the most out of your business day. Hit the gym, take lunch outside, listen to an audiobook. Recharging between other energy-intense sessions is a long-lasting exercise worth trying out.” ~ Mario Peshev, DevriX

10. Schedule Hard Stop Breaks

“Scheduling hard stop breaks into your daily routine will help you balance work with the other parts of your life. Break your day into multiple work shifts to create a natural separation in your schedule. Neglecting this aspect of your routine can be harmful to work and oftentimes lead to counter productivity.” ~ Jordan Edelson, Appetizer Mobile LLC

11. Set Goals Outside of Your Career

“Entrepreneurs are goal-driven, and usually get overly absorbed in career goals. I like to have fitness goals that dictate a workout schedule, for example. I recently took classes in scuba diving and boat sailing, as well, to get out of the office and focus on something new and adventurous. Leave the phone at home and go explore the world.” ~ David Boehl, GoLastMinute

12. Empower Your Team

“Empower your team. Too many entrepreneurs think they need to still have their hand in every single thing at the company, which is draining to them and ultimately discouraging to the employees who are ready to step up and take on more. I did this years ago when I had a major surgery and had to delegate responsibilities during my recovery and then just didn’t take all of the responsibilities back!” ~ Kelsey Raymond, Influence & Co.

Overworked? 12 Practical Ways Entrepreneurs Can Cut Down Their Hours [Smallbiztrends]

Work as we know it has undeniably changed and most businesses have had to adapt to working remotely. However, with the future still unclear, it’s important to adjust your business to fit working remotely indefinitely, returning to work, or a mix of both. And while this means new challenges such as a lack of visibility on employees, possible productivity issues, and even risks to security and safety, businesses must focus on their core principles, seek out unified technology solutions, and adapt to rapidly changing work environments of the future.

For businesses that cannot survive remotely, safety and security measures must be in place before allowing employees to return to work. Along with remote work challenges, many businesses have obviously experienced financial downturn. Based on an SMB Group study, “53% of SMBs’ revenue has decreased since March when the COVID-19 pandemic began.” This means organizations need to re-think traditional models and cut ineffective processes to survive. Understanding that no one knows what’s to come, it’s critical that businesses use this time to develop updated strategies and implement new technology, learning from businesses who are thriving during this difficult time.

Avi Levinson, director of property management at Royal York, has found new ways to thrive including embracing remote work with no plans to return to the office. Royal York specifically handles property management for single-family homes, meaning they work with a large amount of homeowners and tenants. As a business reliant on in-person engagement, it’s hard to imagine a world where Royal York can succeed without conducting in-person showings—human connections are critical in this kind of business. Yet, they’ve defied the odds by creating new processes and using technology to empower their workforce. Instead of continuing to operate the way they used to in an environment where it clearly wouldn’t work, Royal York utilized technology to quickly adapt. Through automating various pieces of their customer journey and enabling staff with the information they need both in the office and while working with customers (through virtual showings and more), they’ve been able to reinvent traditional property management and increase internal productivity so they can handle more business with the same amount of staff. This increase in revenue has allowed them to expand business and even hire new employees to keep pace with growth.

Royal York was able to take their entire business remote, putting extra emphasis on collaboration and communication processes and tools. For companies that are unable to go fully remote, collaboration is still key and tools need to be integrated with relevant business applications to ensure teams have the right context to be effective. Fully integrated tools can automate manual and repetitive tasks, whether that’s automating project management or your customer journey. For example, if you’re using spreadsheets to track sales or a project and you have to update details and notes separately in your CRM, this will contribute to low-value time sucks and hold your business back from operating leaner. Continuing to automate customer touch points throughout their lifecycle will also help with retention and revenue growth.

For businesses choosing to return to work, their model must mold to fit both an office workplace and employees still working from home, but collaboration tools are just one piece of the puzzle. Most businesses are finding that their employees are still successfully communicating and collaborating, but their technology needs to go beyond and contribute to business results rather than simply productivity. Royal York was able to do this by using collaboration software in the context of a new work paradigm that brings collaboration, productivity, and communication tools into other business processes.

It’s critical to look beyond the surface-level capabilities of these tools and make sure they integrate well into whatever ecosystem your teams already use, extending access to the information and tools they need – where they need them. When your sales team is viewing a customer record in CRM, for example, they should be able to see more than just customer information. They need to have a clear picture that includes everything from their last payment and any open support tickets to the last time they were on your website to what they rated you in a recent survey. By providing this information all in one place, you’ll not only automate processes, but you’ll help employees do their jobs better, especially if they’re remote.

It is completely understandable to be overwhelmed with new hybrid work environments and what’s to come. However, whether your business chooses to return to work in the office soon or work remotely indefinitely, collaboration and productivity tools in conjunction with a dynamic strategy to improve employee experience and productivity will enable growth. It’s apparent that collaboration software is at the forefront of aiding hybrid work environments, but let’s look beyond that. Using this technology in the context of a new work paradigm to establish consistency of data throughout your organization will allow for easy adaption and new growth in a shifting work environment.

The Future of Return to Work: Adapting to Hybrid Work Environments [Smallbiztrends]

Letting your employees have more fun around the office could make them better at their jobs, research suggests.

A study published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior discovered a link between informal learning, which is a common way employees pick up new skills that improve their job performance, and having fun at work.

Michael Tews, one of the study’s authors and an associate professor at Penn State University, said informal learning includes most unstructured, non-classroom forms of education.

“Most learning at the workplace occurs independently at the desk, or with a few other people, not necessarily in a classroom,” Tews said in a statement.

Creating fun work environments

The study’s authors believe it’s not necessarily the fun activities themselves that teach the new lessons to employees. Instead, they think it’s the fun atmosphere that creates a better learning environment.

Tews said employees in fun work environments are more willing to try new things and not stress about mistakes they may make.

“It’s easier to make the connection between fun and retention, or fun and performance to the extent that it leads to creativity, but fun and learning doesn’t seem connected at the face of it,” he said. “The gist of this argument, though, is that when you have a workplace that is more fun, it creates a safe environment for learning to occur.”

The study’s authors said the research revealed that while fun could be considered a distraction, it actually has the ability to improve employee resilience and optimism, which leads to better attention to tasks.

Fun also has the potential to bring co-workers together, which can foster learning among colleagues.

“It creates this group cohesion,” Tews said. “So, when there’s fun, then the co-workers may be able to get to know each other, have better connections, and be more apt to help each other.”

For the study, the researchers surveyed 206 managers from a chain of casual dining restaurants. The surveys had the managers rate fun activities, their own bosses’ support for fun, their attitude and informal learning at their restaurants.

The questions were designed to determine if management supported fun activities, such as team-building exercises and recognition celebrations, and how much overall support there was for fun on the job.

The study’s authors discovered that fun has more of an impact on employee learning than whether an employer has created a climate for learning.

“What we’re showing is that this fun on the job actually matters as much as – or even more than – that support for learning,” Tews said.

The study’s authors note, however, that fun cannot cure everything wrong with workplace performance. Tews’ previous research found that while fun can increase employee retention, it also has the possibility to hurt productivity.

Based on the current and past research, Tews believes employers should be selective in how they use fun to encourage learning and productivity.

“With most management tactics, there are always going to be pros and cons,” he said. “There’s never going to be a perfect workplace, there’s never going to be a perfect management intervention, so you have to choose your battles.”

Although Tews believes that, moving forward, it would be beneficial to examine other groups of employees, he does think that this current study supports the notion that fun has instrumental value in the workplace.

The study was co-authored by John Michel, an associate professor at Loyola University, and Raymond Noe, a professor at Ohio State University.

Tips for having fun at work

Creating more opportunities for fun at work tends to boost company morale. People are more prone to put effort into an activity they find enjoyable. If you don’t make your employees’ happiness a priority, you will notice a lack of productivity. Here are a few ways to create a fun and happy workplace.

• Add games in the breakroom. Games aren’t only for kids. Breakrooms should never be sterile places with only tables and chairs for decoration. Fill the space with interesting things, such as brainteaser toys like Rubik’s cubes, board games, and adult coloring books. If you have the budget, spring for a television and a game console like an Xbox.
• Create opportunities for socializing outside of work. Set up a happy hour once a month, or book tickets to attend a baseball game together. If your employees become friends, they are more likely to be happy in their positions.
• Celebrate victories both big and small. Reward team members for a job well done. This could mean treating them to pizza one night after work or awarding comp time. Make sure you provide positive feedback more often than negative to keep an upbeat vibe at work.
• Encourage a healthy mindset. Many workplaces are starting initiatives to help employees stay physically and mentally healthy. This could mean offering a discount for gym membership or arranging a workshop with a fitness instructor. Exercise helps reduce employee stress, and attending workouts together can be fun.

Loosen Up! Having Fun at Work Is Good for Culture [BusinessNewsDaily]

The concept of “practicing mindfulness” has grown in popularity in the last decade. Mindfulness for kids, mindfulness to quit smoking, mindful eating, mindfulness at the office—it’s become a catch-all buzzword.

With claims that mindfulness can cure everything from addiction to anxiety, it’s no surprise that people from all walks of life are becoming students of mindfulness.

To unpack the truth about mindfulness, Octane revisited a conversation with Dandapani (pictured below), a former monk, a Hindu priest, an entrepreneur and one of EO’s top-rated speakers.

Mindfulness is a state of being.

“We should start by defining the word ‘mindfulness,’” says Dandapani. “I define it as a state of being fully aware of what one is engaged in at any particular moment. The biggest misconception is that you can practice mindfulness. It is not something you practice, but rather something you are as a result of practicing concentration.”

But first, concentration.

And while many of us have been told by parents, teachers and even partners to “concentrate!” Dandapani observes that few of us have been taught how to concentrate.

“To be good at concentration we must first learn it and then practice it. One simple way to integrate the practice of concentration into your daily life is to practice doing one thing at a time.” Simply put, “Give what and with whom you are engaged your undivided attention.”

How to treat a wandering mind

If you’re like many business owners and entrepreneurs, you’re likely wondering how you could possibly give your undivided attention to anything or anyone. You’re incredibly busy; your mind is always multi-tasking. You regularly find yourself replying to an email on your phone as you sit in a staff meeting while your mind wanders to a conversation you had with your spouse about vacation plans.

Dandapani recognizes this tendency, observing, “If you are a person whose awareness races through the mind all day, then your energy is also flowing all over the place. Most entrepreneurs allow this to happen and perpetuate this habit by practicing it all day.”

To remedy the constant distractions, he shares a story from his days as a monk. “When I lived as a monk, my guru taught me a phrase he coined: ‘Where awareness goes, energy flows.’ It’s probably one of the most important things I’ve learned. First, we have to learn that awareness and the mind are two separate things. Second, our mind does not wander; our awareness moves within the mind.”

If you realize that life is a manifestation of where you direct your energy—your awareness, your concentration—then that one thing starts to manifest in your life.

“Life is a manifestation of where you direct your energy. When you can concentrate your awareness toward one thing, you begin to direct your energy toward it, and that one thing starts to manifest in your life.”

Dandapani is one of many world-class speakers and educators available to EO members. Learn more about EO and its opportunities for learning. 

Invest in yourself

When you accept that your valuable energy flows to where you concentrate, you’re empowered to enhance all aspects of your life—whether it’s your personal relationships or your leadership skills.

Dandapani explains, “When I speak to people, I ask them to look at their mind and personal life as a piece of software; the better you understand it, the more you can do with it. However, it is staggering how people hardly invest time into understanding and developing this. You are at the center of everything you do in life. So, if you worked on being a better version of you, everything you are involved in will naturally be uplifted.”

Monks have understood this for a long time. “They’ve realized that the greatest way to have an impact in the world is to start by working on yourself. That’s an important step toward mindfulness, both in business and life.”

In practice

After taking part in a Dandapani event sponsored by her EO chapter, Lallenia Birge says her top takeaway “was that our awareness is different than our brain or mind. We are in control of our energy and who or what we give that energy to.”

EO member Stephen Lichter learned a similar lesson from the talk. “Whatever we practice is what we become experts at. By learning to bring our awareness back to those things which are most important in our life, we will be more productive and we will be giving our energy to those things that matter the most.”

Dandapani’s talk also taught Birge a valuable parenting lesson. “He taught me how to share the gift of awareness and the gift of learning to my children. It’s amazing how we are told to concentrate and to learn but no one ever teaches us how to. How do we expect our children to learn and concentrate if they don’t know how the brain works?”

She goes on to say, “Dandapani had a way of engaging us that really made me personally reevaluate my goals and my purpose in life in a way I’ve never done or learned before from anywhere else.”

From mindful to mastering

Dandapani firmly believes you can attain the life you desire, using a free and readily available tool: your mind. Understanding how your mind works and guiding it to focus on what matters most can lead you to make sustainable changes in your life.

The Truth About Mindfulness [Octane]