Time and Sanity-Saving Tips for Startup Entrepreneurs

Starting a business requires many sacrifices — mostly time and money that you often don’t have much of. 80+ hour weeks, all-nighters, and lots of caffeine. Here are some tips to help you manage your time, reduce stress, and keep your sanity:

Turn off notifications

If you have a smartphone, disable notifications that often distract you. Social media apps are major culprits. Check your social media feed later.

Sleep

One of the biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs make is bragging and boasting about how much sleep they’re not getting. Burning the candle at both ends works when you’re in the zone and you’re riding a wave of inspiration. If you’re struggling to solve a problem though, staying awake through the night is the opposite of what you should be doing. SLEEP! Reset your brain. Your body heals itself and removes toxins while you are asleep.

If you’re like me and seem to get the most inspiration in the middle of the night, try alternating your all-nighters. Do an all-nighter one night and get a good nights sleep the following evening. After an all-nighter, I’m not tired the next day. I’m tired the following day after that and I become completely incapable of being productive.

No Video Games

Video games are a huge time suck. Sure, they’re fun and you get to zone out for a bit but by the end of your quest when you realize how much time you’ve invested into the virtual world but actually wasted in the real one, it’s a horrible feeling. Kind of like craving McDonald’s and then regretting it 5 minutes after you’ve consumed it.

Beat the CTRL+T itch

When I’m developing software and I get stuck on a difficult problem or if I’m just having difficulty concentrating, I have a bad habit of pressing CTRL+T and opening a news or social media website. Maybe it’s just me that has this problem but it’s a horrible habit. I realize that what I’m actually doing is attempting to take a mental break from problem solving.

What you should do instead if you have a mental block and need a break is get up from your chair, walk around, get a drink of water — pretty much anything that gets you away from your screen.

To beat this, I block these sites temporarily while I’m working. I do this by modifying my system’s hosts file. Here’s what happens after I block facebook.com:

And here’s my host file settings where I’ve redirected facebook.com to go to an invalid IP address:

You can do this too by following these instructions: https://support.rackspace.com/how-to/modify-your-hosts-file/

Brew your own coffee

You must be wise with your money when you’re starting a business and every penny matters. If you’re a coffee drinker, $4 drinks at Starbucks is not a smart decision. Even if you don’t drink coffee, my point here is to be frugal and evaluate your expenses. If there are cheaper alternatives, take it.

Make your meetings efficient

1. Just because your meeting is scheduled for 30 minutes doesn’t mean you need to be in it for that long
2. Get right to the point — be more direct
3. Evaluate who actually needs to be there. Remember, meeting duration times the number of people = actual time used

Make the most of #2

This is probably TMI (Too Much Information) but make the most of #2 — I’m 100% serious about this. Skip the sudoku puzzle and bring your laptop with you. Just make sure you’re not taking meetings in your “office.” =)

Summary

These are just some tips that I’ve adopted that I hope will help you save time and maintain your sanity. Remember, time is your most valuable asset! Good luck out there.