High achievers are a different breed.
They exist for weeks during business crunch time on a diet of snacks and caffeine. They forgo sleep, food and personal hygiene in favor of a company goal. They love to work, and it shows, particularly in the sacrifices they’re willing to make to ensure their ventures succeed.
If you are someone who trends toward going a bit overboard, how can you make sure you’re taking care of yourself, your business and your relationships without sacrificing your entrepreneurial edge or becoming a cautionary tale? Here are five tips.
1. Use Your Disadvantage to Your Advantage
Within the entrepreneurial world, those dealing with issues, such as depression, ADD or OCD are the rule, rather than the exception. “I have seen this repeatedly in my millionaires,” says author and coach Jaime Masters, who has interviewed more than 350 millionaires. It is more common than not at the higher levels of the business world—and you can use these tendencies to your advantage.
“Life is very interesting… in the end, some of your greatest pains, become your greatest strengths.”
~ Drew Barrymore
2. Stay Healthy
All entrepreneurs need to watch their health, but it’s even more critical for those who might tend toward neglecting their nutrition, sleep and other basics in favor of a 100-hour workweek. Move regularly, hydrate sufficiently, meditate consistently and eat well, to combat the stress you may be dealing with from building, running and growing a business.
3. Cycle and Triggers If you’re prone to the highest of highs and lowest of lows, know your cycles and triggers. Seek help when you need it. Maybe you know you’re more susceptible to depression in the dark winter months, or that you experience an energy crash after a period of sustained effort and long work hours. Be ready with your remedies—self-care, therapy, vacation, sleep, etc.—when those downtimes come.
4. Keep Things Simple Keep as many elements of your life as simple as possible so you can focus on the areas that really need it or will benefit from your attention and creativity. Try not to overcomplicate things.
5. Don’t Try and Do It All Many high performers are more big-picture visionaries than detail-oriented sticklers. Couple that with an entrepreneurial ADD, and you might struggle with starting new things before finishing old things. Find someone to take care of the details so you can stay in your center of genius and focus on your strengths.
In sum Wildcatters, work with your natural flow and tendencies rather than against them. Your uniqueness is what will bring you to the top—and that’s when the naysayers will back down. Know yourself, know your goal and do what it takes to keep yourself moving in the right direction.