3 TIPS TO STAY PRODUCTIVE AND HEALTHY TO BE SUCCESSFUL

I’m not an entrepreneur nor a fancy founder. I’m just a motivated grind guy who works for an entrepreneur who I consider him as my mentor. Since I moved in Bangkok and started working for Jayson Ho, the founder of D8ii Limited, I feel that I am becoming more and more productive and improving my skill-set.

I am one of the lucky ones — because I don’t care how many hours I work since I love what I do here at D8ii with Jayson or perhaps it’s part my Japanese blood. One thing that I can say about working at a startup is・・・

The speed.

We work at lightning speed. And still, there are so many things we want to work that I feel like there is never enough time. Soon, I realized I cannot continue the way I work now. I had to make some changes to keep up with the high-pace startup working scene.

I found research from the University College London that was conducted on three continents. They found participants who worked more than 55 hours per week and found they had a 33% higher chance of stroke compared to those who worked 35 hours.

It was a little startling reading this. I knew I had to change the way I work. So I did. And you know what? I work even better and faster. Coincidentally, I found out that many successful entrepreneurs were doing the same to keep their productivity and health in a fast-paced working environment.

1. Stay focused on ONE purpose

Everyone starts with good motivation. I started working in Bangkok with high motivation. People ask me to do tasks and I accept them, even if I’m busy because I know that I can still work harder. Then, I started another project which required me to work even harder. There was a moment that I got disconnected from the purpose of why I’m doing what I’m doing and who I’m doing it for.

I figured the importance of staying centered and prioritizing. I don’t accept every task people ask me to do anymore. I know what are my focuses while I’m in Bangkok and what I want to accomplish. It was pretty easy to say NO although it took a little courage to do that at first.

Thanks to this, I can focus on MY WORK that actually makes me grow. I realized how much I can contribute to the company I work for now like this rather than working as much as I can.

2. Know your downtime

Jayson is always busy. It’s rare to catch him for a quick review or meeting. Jayson and I frequently communicate through Skype, as I’m currently working for Jayson Ho Asia, CEO branding partially from D8ii Limited.

There are two moments that I cannot disturb him in a week, which are Tuesday and Friday afternoons. These are one of the few downtimes for him to reflect on his thoughts and relax in order to be more productive in another day.

Since I started to work side by side for a successful serial entrepreneur like Jayson, I quickly realized how self-aware he is. I strongly believe this is the one of the reasons why he is what he is right now.

He often says, “You can contact me whenever you want except for my downtime.” I respect his word fully and I am working on finding the best downtime for me.

“You can contact me whenever you want except for my downtime.”

3. Go to Gym, Work out, Get shaped

We all know that exercising is good for your health as well as improving your productivity. I have a different reason for going to the gym. Of course I do it for my health concern, to get in shape and all.

The real objective of going to the gym is to build your confidence. And here are reasons why: after you work out, you feel good. You feel like you have accomplished something productive and you can finish your day with satisfaction. Eventually you will be fit. The suit will look good on you. You start noticing more attention. And that is the moment you realize why you are actually working on was to build your confidence.

When you are confident, you become a better public speaker as you aren’t afraid of anything. Therefore, you’ll become better at negotiating or sales. Maybe thanks to these you will get paid even more and promoted.

Going to the gym is much more than becoming healthy or sexy. It is about building confidence.

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Originally published at d8ii.com on June 27, 2016.