5 Easy Ways To Use Fitness To Become A Better Entrepreneur
For some reason people tend to think that now that I am not working a full time job anymore that I have all the time in the world. The fact of the matter is that when you are working for yourself you care working harder than ever, longer hours and have less time than you ever did working in a traditional office.
I was a bit worried about how I would adapt my fitness to my new entrepreneurial life–It can be super easy to get caught up in the grind and the list of the million and one things on the to-do list. As an entrepreneur trying to build a profitable business while taking care a lot of the small details, fitness can tend to rank low on the daily necessity list.
5 Strategies To Use Fitness To Become A Better Entrepreneur
- Workout First Thing In The Morning: Make sure you add exercise to the top of your to-do list. Getting into a morning routine is not only good for you physically and mentally but it helps to get your creative ideas flowing as well! A good workout in the morning will help keep you more alert and focused throughout the day.
- Align your fitness goals with your business goals: When you own your own business you tend to set a lot of goals–you want to make a certain amount of money by the end of first quarter or sell a certain amount of product by the end of the month. A great way to go after your fitness goals is to have small manageable goals, lose two pounds in a month, eat less junk food. When you set your business goals for the month be sure to take some time and set those fitness goals as well!
- Workout at odd hours: One of the best parts of being an entrepreneur is that you make your own hours right? Use that to your best advantage. If you are a member of a gym, go during the non busy hours. For example, I go to the gym between 7am and 8:30am every morning. It is right after the morning rush and way before the lunch time peak. Find out which hours of the day work for you and maximize it!
- Treat it as a creative break: Sometimes creativity can be difficult to come by. If you must work while taking a break for fitness, treat it as a way to brainstorm new ideas. I have had many ideas come to me on a treadmill or a step machine. Keep a notepad handy though, I don’t want you to forget the good stuff!
- Use Fitness as a networking opportunity: Before we get ahead of ourselves, please DO NOT SELL YOUR BUSINESS/PRODUCT to people you workout with. 🙂 However, once you find a plac that you like to workout, whether it’s the gym, park, spin class, crossfit etc, you will naturally start to make friends. Take the time to meet new people (in a non sleazy salesperson way) and you never know who you might meet pumping iron. 😉
What are some other entrepreneur posts to check out?
- 7 Easy Tax Tips For Entrepreneurs & Bloggers
- The Top 10 Tax Tips For the Self Employed
- 10 Ways To Stay Productive When You Work At Home
What would you add to this list?
Hi! I’m Nellie. I am an entrepreneur, a busy mama of 3 and a wife to my high school sweetheart. I have been sharing content for over 12 years about how to cook easy recipes, workout tips and free printables that make life a little bit easier. I have been featured in places like Yahoo, Buzzfeed, What To Expect, Mediavine, Niche Pursuits, HuffPost, BabyCenter, Mom 2.0, Mommy Nearest, Parade, Care.com, and more!
Get comfortable and be sure to come hang out with me on social. Don’t forget to grab your free fitness journal before you go!
Last year was so hectic, I hardly ever found the time to work out, and now I’m paying the price. I love the idea of treating gym time as a creative break. Getting blood flowing really is a great way to stay creative and sharp. Thanks for always being so motivating!
OMG people ask me all the time “what do you do with all your time?” Um, what time???? I get it but it’s frustrating they don’t see working from home as a REAL job. Granted, I only work part time but I bust my rump all day long!!
For me the biggest thing fitness has done to help my entrepreneurial status 🙂 is remind me of the importance of stamina. Stamina in fitness is obvious stamina and creating something new? I might have forgotten.
Totally need all the help I can get in this department as the hours I keep also working from home are insane many days of the week. So, thank you for as bit more insight and also for the tips on how to be able to work out and work from home, Nellie. Truly appreciate it 🙂
Girl I love that you pointed out working for yourself means you have to work harder. Way too many people think we time for endless lunch dates, long phone chats and random outings because we work from home. I’m still trying to find a workout time that works for me since baby. But ideally, I’d love to get back to my 5 am yoga. My day always seems to run smoothly when I start it with yoga.
I don’t know why people think I have time to chill. I don’t clock into a 9-5 if I don’t get out and network and go to events I can’t get clients. I am doing more drinking of water while I sit and I take 10 minutes to walk up and down my steps a day before I start my work. That has been pretty good!
Cassidy is all about first thing in the morning and odd hours. I totally get that! Like many of your readers, I work at home, and I make some pretty creative scheduling plans to get things done!
Agreed, I totally workout at odd hours and use my exercise time as a creative break! And I hear you on people mistakingly thinking you have all of this free time now… I work mostly from home, and people seem to think that I’m off in the woods hiking all day long haha… Sure, I go for a hike in the middle of the day here and there, but then I’m working at 10 PM that night, so it all balances out! I love the freedom of flexible hours, and hope that you’re enjoying it too.
Good point. I have been trying to work a full time job and start my blogging back up. The health club would be a great networking venue. You’re right. A lot of people think that because you don’t have to work for someone you have more time and that is simply not the case. I honestly don’t know how you did it before when you were at a regular job. You did a great job with you blog and promoting yourself. Maybe you can offer some advice! Thanks!
I love this. It will be a great way to challenge my fitness and life goal simultaneously.