4 practices for struggling entrepreneurs to help get their business back into shape
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- COVID-19 has impacted entrepreneurs in both their physical health and the health of their businesses.
- To get both back on track and see strong results, adjust your mindset and try new strategies.
- Focus on one step at a time and get to the root cause of the problems at hand.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Some call it "COVID pounds." Others label it the "quarantine 15." And some refer to it as the "pandemic pounds."
Regardless of the name, we are emotionally and physically under duress.
According to an American Psychological Association (APA) survey of more than 3,000 people - released a year to the day since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic - 61% of American adults reported undesired weight gain or loss since the coronavirus outbreak.
As if that wasn't problematic enough, according to the APA's latest "Stress in America" report, more than two in five of the surveyed adults (42%) revealed that they gained more weight than they intended over the past 12 months. And that amount was 29 pounds, on average.
Besides the everyday stressors from just being a human, entrepreneurs have a business to manage as the world is figuring itself out. If you're looking to have a bounce back year with your health and business, practice these four cornerstone habits.
Read more: I'm a digital nomad who wanted to settle down and buy a home in Montana - but the housing market made it impossible
1. Adopt the law of one
As you're looking to rebound in health and business, you'll inevitably do some researching and strategizing to formulate your game plan.
While this is the logical thing to do, avoid becoming overwhelmed with possible solutions by adopting the "law of one." Adopting the law of one simplifies your life and ensures that you'll operate with unparalleled focus.
For example:
- One diet
- One workout plan
- One sales process
- One product/service
- One platform/method you'll create content through (ex: audio, video, or text)
- One social platform for your content
Fewer decisions, fewer distractions, and fewer opportunities to procrastinate equal more mental and emotional energy that you can positively allocate toward your goals. The more dialed in your focus, the more likely you'll transform your health while forging an unfair advantage in business.
While you may not have a martial arts tournament set up anytime soon, the principle applies to your fitness and business: Go deep with one thing and master that, rather than dabbling in multiple things and ending up average at all of them.
2.Turn poison into medicine
Besides running a business, entrepreneurs aren't exempt from facing various challenges, obstacles and painful periods of life.
Maybe you've had to rebuild a severly impacted business over the last year. Or perhaps you're losing weight that accumulated over the previous year. Or you're simply leaping into entrepreneurship after having sat on the sidelines for so long waiting for the perfect moment to leave the job that brings you no purpose.
Whatever the case, turning poison into medicine starts with facing your current reality and not running away from it. Whether it's your weight, business, finances, relationships, or something else, you can turn poison into medicine by changing your perspective. And changing your perspective begins with monitoring your internal dialogue.
After all, the only reality existing is the one you're perceiving.
3. Treat the cause, not the symptom
If you had a termite issue in your room and it led to a hole in the wall, would you hang up a picture to remedy the situation?
Of course not. But this is how many people approach their health and business.
They treat the symptom, but not the cause. And to no surprise, the problem rears its ugly head back months later, and often worse.
Whether weight gain or inconsistent revenue, those are merely the symptoms that won't go away unless their root causes are addressed. Without focusing on the root causes, you can find yourself on a rollercoaster with both your weight and income.
Getting to the root causes for weight gain could be uncontrolled stress levels leading to mindless snacking, poor time management, or a non-sustainable nutrition plan. And inconsistent revenue could be due to a flawed sales process or even your beliefs and attitudes around money.
Before blindly jumping into action, do some preliminary work and investigate the possible root causes for your problems. Getting to the root cause will help you develop more precise solutions, so you never have to deal with them again.
4. Script the first and last 90 minutes of your day
Your day-to-day life is akin to bookends and the books kept in order. Without bookends, holding a row of books upright is mission impossible. Your morning and evening routines serve as the bookends to holding together your day-to-day life.
Focusing on how you start the day is well documented. Still, it's equally important to develop some strong habits for the end the day so you can set yourself up for success the following day. There are four quarters, and your morning is the first while the evening is the fourth quarter. To ensure you start and end the day well, adopt a priming and regeneration routine to serve as your bookends.
Priming is what you'll do in the morning upon waking. Regeneration is what you'll do before sleeping. Block and script out 90 minutes for each one. Include critical habits and tasks to get you in the right frame of mind.
If you find yourself with some extra quarantine weight or a business that needs a tune-up, don't fret. Instead, let the past serve as clues to how your present currently constructs. Leverage lessons and insights from the past in this present moment so you can forge a future to your liking.
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