Avoid These 12 Bad Habits As an Entrepreneur

Transcript

(0:08) Hey everyone, welcome to the Breakthrough Entrepreneurs Show, where we empower entrepreneurs (0:13) to build good habits, avoid and break old habits, rebuild powerful routines, overcome (0:20) burnout, improve performance, and create a more healthy and more focused daily entrepreneurial (0:27) life while making consistent progress in building their business. I'm your host Muhammad Faraj and (0:34) today our topic is avoid these 12 bad habits as an entrepreneur. You see, our daily entrepreneurial (0:45) life needs good habits.They require good healthy routines or rituals. So if we want to make (0:54) progress, if we want to move forward, if we want to accomplish, if we want to get closer to our goals, (1:02) our dreams, odds are our habits, they determine whether we are on track or whether we are (1:10) following the right direction or whether we are aligned with those goals, with those dreams, (1:18) with those ambitions. So basically we all default back to our daily habits, the habits that we (1:28) implement in our daily entrepreneurial life, the routines, the rituals that we perform every day. (1:36) So every day your habits are determining whether you are on track or whether you are following (1:43) the right direction or whether you are on the right trajectory or not. So it's so important (1:52) to focus on our daily habits, our daily routines or rituals. So that way we get closer to our outcome, (2:00) we get closer to our results, we get closer to our goals, to our dreams, to our ambitions.So (2:09) there are some habits that are moving you forward as an entrepreneur in your daily (2:15) entrepreneurial life, but unfortunately there are other bad habits that are slowing down your (2:21) progress, that are preventing you from becoming that successful entrepreneur. There are daily (2:28) bad habits that are avoiding you from getting closer to your outcome. So that's why one of the (2:38) biggest problems that entrepreneurs face is feeling stuck and stagnation in their daily (2:45) entrepreneurial life and they feel like they're working very hard but they are not moving forward, (2:51) they are not progressing, they are not achieving, they are not getting things done.And mostly it's (2:58) because of our old habits, it's because of our old behaviors that we have built previously. (3:07) So in this topic, in this episode, I am going to talk about 12 bad habits that are slowing down (3:17) your progress, that are impacting your health, that are affecting your focus, your productivity, (3:24) your progress. So stay tuned with me so I can delve into these habits and I'm going through (3:31) these habits one by one so you can learn about them, become aware of them, become very conscious (3:38) of these unconscious bad habits that are preventing you from achieving your goals, (3:47) from making your dreams come true as an entrepreneur.So the number one habit that (3:54) so many entrepreneurs make and I used to be guilty of this habit too and it took me a long (4:01) time to break this habit. You see so many people they wake up in the morning but they are just (4:06) laying down on their bed, they are laying down on their comfort zone. Some people they are just (4:12) rolling around on their bed and they refuse to leave their comfort zone, they refuse to leave (4:18) their warm comfort bed and that's why so many people they lose, they waste so much time (4:26) just thinking about their life, thinking about their problems, the issues, the people that (4:31) they got involved with.Instead of breaking this habit by setting an alarm or if you don't want to (4:41) you can just leave your bed by making it or breaking this habit and replacing it (4:49) with a better habit. Every time you wake up you leave your bed. So many times I used to be guilty (4:57) of this habit I would find myself I would spend from 5 to 30 minutes just laying down on my bed (5:05) and I looked like someone who doesn't have goals, who doesn't have dreams, who doesn't have any (5:13) vision for their future.I would stay laid down on my comfort zone just thinking about my daily (5:19) life, thinking about the people, about events, about activities but once I became aware of this (5:26) habit I needed to break this habit and replace it with just waking up and putting my sport clothes (5:32) on. I don't want to spend from 5 to 30 minutes just laying down on my bed. I mean I've already (5:39) went to bed earlier on the evening and I have got sufficient sleep from 7 to 8 hours.I have (5:48) rested my body, my body is rejuvenated, is recovered during the sleep time. Why the hell (5:54) would I stay on my bed and just rolling around and just thinking about people all that. Instead (6:00) I can break this habit by leaving my bed, putting my shoes on, putting my sport clothes on and just (6:08) go out and do some running or jogging or biking or hit the gym.Look how much time you save if you (6:16) just break this habit and replace it with a better healthy habit by leaving your bed. If you save (6:23) from 5 to 30 minutes every day imagine how many minutes how much time you have saved (6:29) in the long run, in one week, in one month, in a year. So many of us we underestimate (6:36) how much time we can save in the future but we overestimate how much time we are wasting.So (6:46) break this habit by replacing it with a better habit. Just when you wake up in the morning (6:52) throw your blanket or your sheet and just leave your bed and break this habit by putting your (7:01) sport clothes on or I don't know taking a shower if it's a recovered day or you can take a walk (7:07) but as long as you leave your comfort zone, you leave your bed and you wake up with a vision, (7:14) you wake up for your goals, you wake up for your dreams, you wake up for that big (7:20) vision. Vision for your future instead of just staying on your comfort zone because (7:27) your comfort zone is the enemy of your accomplishment of your dreams and habit (7:33) number two.You see I used to be guilty of this habit too where every day I would go to bed (7:41) without preparing, without planning my sport clothes on, preparing my protein shake, preparing (7:48) my water bottle, what time am I gonna go to the gym, what am I gonna train, what workout I'm going (7:54) to implement, how many reps, how many sets. So I used to be guilty of this habit where I would just (8:00) right away go to bed without any planning, without any preparation and when I wake up in the morning (8:07) I'm tired, sluggish, not knowing exactly what to do. Instead this is a bad habit and we can (8:16) replace this habit by before you go to bed when you plan and prepare your bedtime, you can prepare (8:22) and plan your workout, your training, your clothes, put your sport clothes somewhere in your environment (8:31) close to your bed so that way you can stack this habit with that habit where you leave your (8:37) comfort zone, you leave your bed as soon as you wake up in the morning.So you stack it with this (8:43) habit and the next habit would be to put your sport clothes on right away, your shoes, your socks, your (8:51) pants, your shirt. So you plan, you prepare your sport clothes and you know what you're going to (8:59) workout, you know what you're going to train, just like you know what you're going to be working on (9:04) in your business. So this is a powerful habit and I promise you, you have already (9:11) saved so much time by leaving your bed, by putting your clothes on.So the next habit and this is a (9:21) bad habit, very common habit that so many people make it, where preparing. So many of us we are (9:30) very slow in preparing. You see it used to take me almost like I don't know 10, 15, 20 minutes to (9:37) prepare to go to the gym or to go to an event but I started to set an alarm.So I set a timer or (9:46) alarm so I prepare very fast. I put my clothes on very fast so I don't spend too much time going to (9:54) the gym and when I go to the gym I do the same. I don't spend so much time preparing or planning or (10:02) doing workout or training.No, I'm tracking my time. I'm tracking, I'm managing my time. I'm (10:08) setting a timer or alarm and I'm training with a specific time, with a specific duration of time. (10:16) So that way I don't spend too much time preparing, going to the gym or any event. I don't spend too (10:22) much time training or doing my workout or being very sluggish or being very very slow at the gym. (10:28) No, I'm preparing faster, I'm going to the gym faster, I'm training faster, I'm doing workout (10:34) faster, I'm getting things done faster so I can save so much time and not fall back into my old (10:41) bad habits.So I plan and I make sure that I train with a specific time. You see I used to participate (10:49) in CrossFit trainings and I used to train with a group of people and the trainer or the coach would (10:57) set a limited time which is it was like I don't know 40 or 45 minutes and we would follow a time (11:05) management during that CrossFit training or session. So five minutes training and then two (11:12) minutes rest and recovery, five minutes training and then two minutes rest and recovery and we (11:18) would train for I don't know 20 or 25 minutes and then we would take some minutes break or rest (11:24) and then we would start with the second phase of the training and our total minutes or our total (11:30) training would be 40 or 45 minutes.So people don't spend more than one hour doing a workout (11:40) or training. We're training fast, we're following our time, we have a digital clock that we look at (11:45) the minutes, we look at the timer. So this is how we should do in our own personal workout and training (11:52) as well.So that way you don't end up going to the gym spending more than one hour and you haven't (11:59) even trained effectively because a very effective train should not take too much time. A very high (12:05) intensity workout or training should not take so much time. You need to train faster so your muscles (12:11) can grow faster.If you train very slow, if you're spending too much time, you're just wasting your (12:16) time, you're not training effectively and you're not helping your muscles grow faster. (12:24) So this is a bad habit that we need to avoid. So even when it comes to washing dishes or taking (12:34) shower, I always set a timer 10 minutes, 15 minutes even when I when I do a household things in my (12:41) home like washing dishes or cleaning home or doing laundry.I always set, I don't know, 5, 10 or 15 (12:49) or 20 minutes timer because I don't want to be slow. I don't want to spend extra time on things (12:56) that should not take too much time. So the fourth habit is so many of us, we wake up in the morning, (13:05) we know we have goals, we have dreams, we have a bigger vision for our future but so many of us, (13:11) we have this bad habit where we're constantly worried about our past, worried about our future, (13:19) this business is not going to work and we feel unmotivated, unengaged, we start our day with (13:25) negative thoughts.You see, this is an internal bad habit. So many of us, we had this bad habit (13:33) but it's so important to work on breaking this habit. You see, I wake up in the morning, I wake (13:40) up with the vision, with goals, with the dreams, with a purpose.I know what I'm working on, I know (13:45) why I'm going to the gym, I know why I'm leaving my comforts in my bed. So I should be focusing on (13:52) my values, I should be focusing on my core values, on my goals, I should be focusing on my dreams, (13:59) on that big vision. I should always remind myself by making it a good habit where I'm reminding (14:07) myself about the people that I love, that I care about, that I believe in, that I trust, (14:13) that I want to help, that I want to serve, that I want to improve their lives.So I'm waking up for (14:19) those people, I'm waking up for my values, I'm waking up for a mission, I'm waking up for my (14:26) calling, I'm waking up for goals, for big dreams. So I should not let that bad habit always constantly (14:34) remind me about negative thoughts, feelings, emotions, about my past, about what happened. (14:40) So the fourth habit is stop worrying about your future, about your old past.Instead, wake up in (14:51) the morning with a vision, with goals, with dreams, knowing what you're working on, who you are serving, (14:58) what you're going to do. So I wake up in the morning for my goals, I wake up in the morning (15:03) for my dreams, I wake up in the morning to make progress, I wake up in the morning to move the (15:09) needle, I wake up in the morning to do the hard work, to be laser focused, to be fully productive (15:15) for my family, for the family that I love, that I care about so much. I will do anything for them, (15:22) I'm willing to do anything for them and I will never let negative thoughts or motivation stop me. (15:31) So this is a habit that we need to be working on, breaking it. But it will take time because I used (15:38) to be this person as well. I used to wake up very negative but after a while I started to replace it (15:46) with a good habit.I always remind myself at the gym, at workout, during my running session, I always (15:53) remind myself even when I'm eating, even when I'm taking shower, always remind myself about my goals, (16:01) about my dreams, what I'm working towards for the people that I love. I always tell myself I will do (16:07) anything, I'm willing to do whatever it takes for those people that I love, that are close to my (16:13) heart, my family, my friends, the people in my life that make me feel happy, grateful and very blissful. (16:20) So the fifth habit that so many entrepreneurs they fall guilty into is consuming heavy meals. (16:30) You see heavy meals and unhealthy meals and fast food, junk food, these are foods and these are (16:38) meals that are affecting your health not only in a typical day but even in the long term. (16:46) They're slowing down your progress, they're impacting your energy. That's why so many (16:51) entrepreneurs they experience feeling tired, sluggish, very slow, unmotivated, unengaged (17:00) and so many entrepreneurs they find themselves, their energy got disrupted because they consumed (17:09) very heavy and unhealthy meals.So my best advice for you is to avoid these meals, do not eat a (17:16) heavy meal until evening. I used to wake up in the morning and the first thing I used to do is eating (17:23) unhealthy and I used to eat but after a while, after building my new version I had to break this (17:29) habit by replacing it with intermittent fasting and even when I'm finished with my fasting around (17:36) lunchtime or noon like 12 o'clock or 13 I would eat a breakfast or a healthy snack whether if (17:45) it's yogurt, if it's like blueberries or sometimes it's cheese, sometimes it's just fruit and (17:53) milk. So I consume very light meals.So many of us we eat healthy meals and we feel tired, sleepy, (18:01) sluggish. We find it very hard to sit in our workplace and do the work. We find ourselves (18:07) exhausted, tired, very disrupted with energy, no energy.So break this habit by doing intermittent (18:16) fasting or consuming very light snacks and very light for your body. So the second habit is so many (18:28) entrepreneurs they fall guilty into this habit as well is not doing their meditation or skipping (18:35) their relaxation or mindfulness exercises. You see so many of us and I have this bad habit as well (18:45) until this day.So many of us when we are working on our business on a particular project or task (18:52) you find yourself that you're working, that you're watching your screens, your eyes are on the screen (18:59) but you're thinking somewhere else. You find it very hard, you struggle with calming down your (19:05) thoughts, your feelings, your emotions. You get emotional during the typical work day.So you're (19:12) constantly thinking somewhere else but you find it very hard to focus, to be fully present, to be (19:18) fully productive. So that's why after doing your morning routine you need to make sure that you (19:24) don't skip your meditation, your affirmation. You don't skip your visualization exercises.You need (19:31) to meditate, meditate a lot, relax your body. We're thinking so many thoughts all day long. Our mind (19:39) is like a machine, it's like a computer.It's just working, working, working and we get so (19:45) tired and we find it very hard to be present. We're constantly thinking about our old story, (19:51) about our past. Instead, cooperate mindfulness and relaxation exercises by doing meditation, (20:01) affirmation, visualizing your future.So that way you can relax your mind, so you can feel mentally (20:08) healthy by building a better habit. So do not skip your relaxation, your mindfulness exercises (20:16) because they are important for your business. So that way you don't end up spending many hours (20:23) on just one single task or project, especially from morning to until lunch time.Instead, (20:30) when you are relaxed, when you are present, when you don't get internally distracted, (20:36) so many distractions from your thoughts, from your feelings, from your emotions, problems, (20:43) incidents, activities, people that you got involved with in your past before. You're just (20:49) thinking about them. So break this habit by constantly doing meditation and visualizing (20:55) your future, visualizing your goals, your dreams.So this is the second habit. The seventh habit is (21:04) so many entrepreneurs, they avoid taking short breaks or taking rest or relaxing. (21:12) You see, when we are working for many hours during our day, finally, we will end up being tired, (21:20) exhausted, depleted, drained with energy.And we find it very hard to focus, to be productive. (21:29) We can't focus. We can't get work done because we are feeling mentally fatigued and tired, (21:37) exhausted in our body.That's why so many entrepreneurs, they experience burnout (21:42) during their workday because they are not listening to their health. They're (21:46) not paying attention to what is not working in their health. So make sure that you take short (21:53) breaks.So what I do personally in my own entrepreneurial daily life is I work for 30 (22:00) minutes or 40 minutes. I set an alarm for one hour and then I take five to 10 minutes break. (22:07) I do some cleaning.I clean my home. If there's anything that needs to be cleaned, (22:12) or I would just take a short walk or I would listen to music or do a mindful relaxation practice. (22:20) Or if I have done some laundry, I could put my clothes back into my closet.So I do something. (22:29) I just fix something. I clean something.I move my body. I do some dancing. I listen to music. (22:35) I go out if it's nice sunny weather for a short walk just to get fresh air so I can cleanse (22:42) my thoughts so I can refresh and rejuvenate new energy so I can refresh my mind so I don't feel (22:50) tired, exhausted, or putting so much pressure on myself. So the seventh habit is to not (22:59) avoid taking breaks. Instead, you need to listen to your body.Take short breaks. Rest your body. (23:06) Lay down somewhere or take a walk.Move your body. Do some dancing. Listen to some music. (23:11) Do some cleaning at your home. Play with your kids for five to 10 minutes. Just do something (23:16) and then come back to your work.So every 30 minutes, every 40 minutes, or every one hour, (23:22) take a five to 10 minutes break and then come back to your work. So that way you're balancing (23:28) your energy. You're not feeling very sluggish, tired.Instead, you're enjoying moving forward (23:34) and making progress. So the eighth habit is, you see, to follow a time management and to stick to (23:44) a calendar and your calendar will help you make progress or complete those tasks, those projects (23:52) on your to-do list. So it's super important to follow a time management system to stick to your (24:00) calendar.See, I've had this bad habit where I would schedule blocks of times for each activity, (24:08) each event, each task, each project, but I will not follow. I would forget about my calendar. (24:16) I would find myself passing by those projects.I'm doing something else instead of doing something (24:24) productive. So your calendar is the operator system. This is where your operations, they run (24:31) from.Your calendar is your system. Your goals, your dreams, they depend on that calendar. Just (24:38) like schools, just like companies, block a specific limited time for each event, each activity, for (24:45) each rest time, for each task, each project, each meeting, each phone call.And so you can make sure (24:54) that you're implementing those blocks of time, that you're following a procedure calendar, that (25:01) you're not drifting around, that you're not skipping hard work, that you're not escaping from hard work, (25:07) that you're not skipping your important tasks that you have scheduled on your calendar. So stick to (25:13) your calendar. So the ninth habit that so many entrepreneurs, unfortunately, they waste so much (25:22) time is their mobile phone, their device.You see, wherever you go, which company or any school you (25:33) visit, you would find yourself, people are putting their mobile phone devices on a side, away from (25:42) their work environment, because people want to be productive. People want to be laser focused. (25:48) People want to be efficient in their work performance.People want to make sure that they (25:53) get done, they do their work. So your device, your mobile device is your enemy, not only your enemy. (26:00) Your mobile device is the enemy of that dream life that you want to build for yourself and for your (26:05) family.That mobile device is the enemy of your progress. That mobile device is the enemy of the (26:13) happy life that you want to live. Your mobile device, your distractions are the enemy of your (26:21) happiness, of your success, of your progress.So I used to have this bad habit where I would have my (26:28) mobile phone device around me and I'm constantly all the time checking my mobile phone, checking (26:33) for notifications, checking for SMS, checking for messages, checking for phone calls. I'm just waiting (26:40) for people to send me something, to call me. I felt so stupid because of this bad habit. (26:46) I forgot my goals. I ignored my dreams. I ignored what I'm working towards by just checking my (26:53) mobile phone.You see, your mind can be everywhere. Your mind can be present with one thing, not two (27:01) things simultaneously or at the same time. So when you are working, that means you need to focus all (27:09) your time, all your energy, all your attention to that work because it's important.It's important (27:15) for your dreams. It's important for your future. That work is important for your family.That (27:21) important work is important for your happiness, for your success. So do not let your mobile phone (27:29) be present around you in your environment. Environment plays a very big role.So keep your (27:36) mobile phone away and do not answer any phone calls. You see, I used to answer phone calls and I would (27:44) talk to some of people, some of my friends. They were working, they were studying, they were living (27:49) their dream life, but they were distracting me.So I always make sure that I put my mobile phone (27:56) away in another room and I put it on silent and I want to be focused. I want to be productive. I want (28:03) to be present with my business, with my future because when you grab your mobile phone, you're (28:09) not just, your hands are not just touching that mobile phone, but that mobile phone is programming (28:15) your thoughts, your feelings, your emotions.Sometimes you read SMS and that SMS generates so (28:22) many thoughts, feelings, emotions. Or you talk to one of your fans and they tell you bad news or (28:28) they tell you something that went bad, didn't go well or something happened and after you close (28:35) that call or after you read that SMS or that message, you feel emotionally negative, negative (28:43) thoughts, worried and you hear bad news or you hear something happen and this affects your focus, (28:52) your productivity and you're constantly thinking about what happened or about that phone call, about (28:58) your device, but you're not present with your business, you're not present, you're not laser (29:04) focused with your goals, with your dreams and you're giving so much value, so much attention, so much (29:11) care to other people, to distractions, to what is happening in the world, but you're not paying (29:17) attention, you're not giving your attention, your focus, your productivity, your energy, your time (29:23) to what is important to your future. So this is a very bad habit that you need to break and you can (29:30) replace this habit by putting away your mobile phone because it's your enemy, it's the enemy (29:37) of your success, it's the enemy of your happiness, it's the enemy of your future, it's the enemy of (29:44) your goals, your dreams, your vision.Please put your mobile phone in another room, just like schools, (29:50) teachers, they take their students mobile phones and they lock them in a small locker. (29:55) I would really highly encourage you to purchase.