What hat are you wearing today? As a business owner, you likely wear multiple hats each day.
Right now, I’m wearing my blogger hat. Once I click “Publish”, however, I’ll switch out that hat for my CEO hat and maybe even try on the trusty business development hat for a bit.
With all these hats, the brain of a business owner can become tired, cluttered, and generally burned out.
So, how do you keep your mind sharp as a business owner?
Try these four creative ways you may not have thought of to stay fresh.
Card and Mind Games
Try playing solitaire and other mind games. Doing this works on two levels.
- You have fun and get away from the realities of work for a bit.
- You sharpen your mind, as these games involve critical thinking to win.
There are lots of great free solitaire and mind game sites online, like Solitaire.org for example (see the screenshot below). So, there’s no need to buy some pricey subscription to start playing.
Start with Solitaire. When you win that first game, you’ll benefit from that rush of seeing the cards bounce away off screen in celebration.
Once you’ve bested solitaire, try out a few other games. Make sure to limit your time on the site to 30-60 minutes during the workday. You’ll come back to your work refreshed and ready to roll.
Take a Technology Break
I know, this one is hard to wrap your mind around. I feel the same way.
How can you possibly make it through the day not knowing if you received a new, important email or if one of your team members reached out to you?
We’re more and more connected to technology with every passing day. This means that we’re always on.
A study by Statista showed recently that we spent 5-6 hours, on average, using our mobile devices each day. Think how productive we would be if we had those hours back?
We experience FOMO (fear of missing out) on a daily basis, which causes us to check our mobile and other devices every few minutes or so throughout the day.
The problem is, checking our devices so often means we never get a break. Our minds are constantly racing and worrying. Even on vacation, we fail to fully unwind and enjoy the break because we’re constantly logging into email or responding to text messages.
So, how do you take a tech break?
- Set boundaries with your team. Let them know you’ll be unavailable during a certain period of time.
- Put away your device in a place you can’t easily access it. If you skip this step, you’ll give in and grab your phone within the first hour.
- Business communication is important. So, set one 30-minute window each day during your tech break to check and keep up on things.
- Enjoy life! Take in nature. Be with your family. Truly soak in the moments without the interruption of technology.
Schedule your next technology vacation today. Get away and get disconnected. Then come back sharp and more productive than ever.
Check Something Off Your Bucket List
We all have one. Some may be less official than others, but we all have a list of things we want to do before we leave this world.
Maybe you want to visit the country from which you’re descended.
Or perhaps you want to go ski diving or ride a raging bull at a rodeo.
Whatever is on your list, pick one and go check it off.
Checking an item off your bucket list can give you a sense of euphoria. You feel accomplished, and your confidence grows.
Bring this newfound sense of accomplishment and confidence back to the office and put it into your work.
Find Your Peace and Serenity
Popular blogger, Ryan Biddulph, writes a lot about embracing your fears, the value of yoga, and finding peace and serenity in your life that leads to business (or blogging) growth.
He’s 100% right.
Whether you do yoga, you take a walk in nature, or you find peace in the smiles of your family, it’s important as a business owner to have an outlet that helps you calm things down and gets you centered.
When you find peace and serenity in your life, it’s easier for you to focus and gain clarity as you take on the numerous tasks required of you as a business owner.
Final Thoughts on Keeping Your Mind Sharp as a Business Owner
Being your own boss is freeing and comes with a lot of perks. It also comes with a lot riding on your shoulders that can lead to a buildup of stress and anxiety.
Follow the tips offered in this article to calm things down and get back to being productive.
Stress is always going to be a part of the business ownership game. But with a creative approach, you can limit the negative impact it has on your business.
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- The Savvy Marketing Agency Guide to Wild Growth in 2023 - January 23, 2023
- Newbie Blogger’s Blunders: 7 Lessons Learned from My Early Mistakes - January 21, 2023
Glad you wrote this post, Anthony! With the kind of crazy life that I have (as you know, with little kids ;), if I can get 10 minutes for myself in the day when I am not working and I don’t have kids around, I feel blessed!
And to be honest, sometimes all I do is mindlessly scroll through social media videos or watch some rerun on Netflix 😉 ‘Mindlessly: no thinking, no action’ being the operative keyword.
And even though it’s tech, it still helps me to chill a bit and clear my mind. Whatever works 😉
Thanks for reading! I agree, when I have a moment and don’t have a project to work on at night (some nights staying up late to catch up is necessary), I find it therapeutic to catch up on a show (Stranger Things Season 4 right now), or catch a movie I haven’t seen (or rew-watch any Marvel movie). No thinking and no necessary action can work wonders!
Ooh the late nights…at least 3 days I week I have that 😉 But I take that mindless breather between putting the kids to bed and starting work. Definitely works! We just finished Stranger Things 4 😉
Ha, yep! The late nights are a necessity when you work from home, run your own business, and have kids. Unwinding with Stranger Things (no spoilers please, I’m only on episode 3), can be quite refreshing.
Anthony, thanks for the shoutout 🙂
I spend so many hours away from the laptop daily that most entrepreneurs would believe me to be a bit nuts LOL. Entrepreneurs love to work. I work to free myself. Even though I love blogging I saw bloggers early during my career who never had a sense of balance. Why sit in front of a laptop for 15 hours daily even if you love blogging? Do we live to sit in front of a glowing screen?
Do the laptop bit, then hike, then spend time with your fam, then do yoga, then enjoy a movie….life is enjoying the freedom of doing many enjoyable things, not just one thing you love doing.
The tech bit is a necessary part of our success, that’s for sure. But as you said, we can’t spend out entire day in front of a screen. Take some time away, spend time with family, take walks, enjoy life. If you fail to do that, you’re business or blog stands to fail as well.