Startup Blabber #009: De-Stress
Dear Steemians,
I guess I was due for a startup blabber talk. These past few weeks, it's been very hectic at Althea. As always, there's so much to do and so little time to do them in. I wonder if I was given the gift of time, if I would actually do more work.
It's a bit of a theory, but I think that entrepreneurs live shorter lives than a lot of other people. I say this in a very careful manner. I don't want to drive away "on-the-fence" potential entrepreneurs from starting ventures. The issue with people starting their own businesses is that ultimately you are not overlaying your skill set on a business with a foundation, you are basically in need to do everything from step 0.
You are playing catch-up with the world of existing businesses with the need to execute much more quickly and efficiently. With that in mind, you are constantly thinking about your business. You wake up, feel compelled to go to the computer, check over all of the emails you have missed. Afterwards, you get ready and go to work. You are at your office before all of your employees, because during the day, most of it is just allocated to meeting people and talking with your teammates, but at the same time, you have to get a lot of stuff done. You finish your day, go home, sleep, and return 360 degrees to the start of the cycle again.
What is it that you are missing?
Every day that you repeat this cycle without a small cycle of "de-stressing", this is what the pattern would probably look like (each circular flow is a daily cycle):
People may really believe that putting in the hours will pay off. This is only somewhat true. You know to put in the smart hours to make it pay off. From my perspective, that is increasing your efficient output as much as possible. So what does stress do?
Here are some quick bullet points on the effects of stress on work performance that I got off the internet (source here):
- Poor time management
- Strained relationships
- Lack of focus
- Effect on health
From my personal experience, the increased level of stress actually had an impact on my liver, which ultimately led me to become lethargic so much of the time.
Anyways, de-stressing doesn't have to take up so much time. What I have done on my part is to go fishing once in a while. Just the calm serene state that you are in while you are with nature seems to calm the body and allows you to enter an almost meditative state. While I actually don't catch fish much of the time, just going through this exercise is very nice.
Hopefully, everyone has something they can resort to for de-stressing.
Have a great day everyone!
Chris
Father Ramblings Series:
Steemit Introductory Post
Father Ramblings #001: Introduction
Father Ramblings #002: Homo Novus
Startup Blabber Series:
Startup Blabber #001: Communication Within a Team
Startup Blabber #002: Most Important Aspect of a Startup
Startup Blabber #003: There shall always be conflict!
Startup Blabber #004: The Hamptons Five
Startup Blabber #005: The Cap Table
Startup Blabber #006: The Importance of Feedback
Startup Blabber #007: Family
Startup Blabber #008: Taking Care of Your Health
Althea Talk Series:
Althea Talk #001: Introduction
Althea Talk #002: My Journey Into Skincare
Althea Talk #003: Inner Beauty
Althea Talk #004: Spruce Up the Office
Althea Talk #005: Our 3rd Anniversary!
I feel like I have said this before in another post, but the pomodoro method is what comes to my mind first when looking at topics like this.
25 minutes of working/learning, 5 minutes break time doing something else or just taking the time off.
Attempted to make a habit out of that, but I failed miserable at taking the time. Tried to use my smartphone as an alarm clock, but did not like that either because I dislike having my smartphone closeby while I want to be concentrated.
Considering getting a regular cooking clock instead. But I am not sure if that will be the thing either.
Thought I replied to this response. Sorry, the network has been really unstable today. Anyways, I think what you said is correct, although I would double the 25/5 routine into a 50/10 routine. I think 25 minutes is just too short to really get the engine going.
Kk I don't think the timer is the issue. The issue is probably the fact that you are trying to apply yourself with this strategy for a whole day. It might be better to take baby steps. Start with just the morning or the afternoon, and see if you can work yourself from there. Also, there are the issues where there are "disturbances" to this routine with meetings, etc.
No, the problem is not the timing itself, it is the way of notifying myself of the times.
In a perfect world, I would just have a natural feeling for the time and that may develop over time, but until that, you need some help with that. And I react super bad to any kind of alarming signal. They just get under my skin.
It was actually an interesting experiment on my part, but my wife bought me a Fitbit Alta for my birthday last year. I actually wore this for an entire year. The good thing about this band is that you can set alarms with it. I would try to wake up at 6am every weekday.
The Alta finally gave out a few weeks ago, but it's interesting, the Alta made my morning alarm a habit, and I've been waking up at 6 in the morning without the alarm.
Yes, I get to that point eventually as well. Especially when I do sports and live healthy, my body tends to be five minutes ahead of the alarm clock.