There’s always more on your plate, as an entrepreneur, than there is time in the day. And doing work that matters is demanding, both physically and mentally. If you want to be the best of the best you don’t want to simply “keep up,” you want to blow projects out of the water.
All it takes to make that happen is a few adjustments to how you’re eating and how you’re living. Make these five tweaks and you’ll set your productivity on fire and avoid the dreaded “burn out” that so many entrepreneurs experience.
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Start every day with fat and protein, not sugars and starches.
Sugars and starches (and things that quickly convert to sugar in your body like cereal grains) disorder your hormones and cause rampant afternoon hunger and an energy slump. Worse, as soon as that energy slump hits, your brain function goes with it. A simple fix is to give your body what it really wants and needs: fat and protein. These two macronutrients promote stable hormone function, offer diesel-fuel-like energy levels, and make you more likely to keep extra inches off your waist. Yes, you heard that right. Fat doesn’t make you fat and eating fat, especially in the morning, will make you less likely to binge on junk food later in the day.
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Get 8 to 9 hours of sleep in a pitch black room.
As an entrepreneur, sleeping means time spent away from work, away from customers, and away from the numbers. I get that. But lean in close and listen carefully: that’s healthy. If you’re overworking yourself, that’s resulting in less productivity and less output quality. It’s also going to end in you being sick or burned out — either way, out of commission. Build the discipline to go to bed at a reasonable time, make sure your room is pitch black (i.e., not a single light — even from an alarm clock), and stay there for eight to nine hours.
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Ditch the bread – go gluten-free.
While I don’t recommend switching to gluten-free products because they’re loaded with other bad stuff, it’s a good idea to ditch gluten. Even if you’re not Celiac, non-serious intolerances can have side effects like brain fog, inflammation, and decreased immune function. Passing on bread and anything made with wheat and cereal grains is a big first step. If you’re not sure about all this gluten stuff, do a 30 day experiment to see how you feel and perform when it’s not in your diet. If you don’t notice a difference, you can always go back.
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Exercise, but skip the cardio.
What if I told you that you could get all the benefits of exercise that you’re after while only investing about 20 minutes a few times a week? It’s possible and it’s simple: ditch the cardio and replace it with two days of resistance training and one day of high intensity interval training or sprinting. Steady state cardio exercise (i.e., jogging, cycling, boot camp classes, etc.) increases inflammation, increases hunger, increases the need for sleep, and actually promotes belly fat storage and a decrease in lean muscle mass. Resistance training and high intensity interval training you’ll build lean muscle mass, shed fat, and save hours per week.
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Supplement with plenty of Vitamin D3.
Vitamin D is usually activated in your body by sunlight and is responsible for a host of things including mood, cardiovascular health, and immune function. But you’re an entrepreneur; how much full body sun exposure are you really getting? Vitamin D3 (make sure it’s not D2) supplements are an inexpensive fix. Take them year round and even more-so in the winter when you’re getting even less natural sun exposure. You don’t need to take a bunch of supplements, but this one is imperative.
You don’t have to change everything about your life and your routine. Huge benefits can come from small adjustments. In that sense, health is just like business.
Which productivity tweak are you most interested to try?
Kevin Geary, founder of The Rebooted Body and host of The Rebooted Body Podcast, teaches people how to reprogram their body and mind for sustainable fat loss, vibrant health, and peak performance with a unique blend of ancestral science and modern psychology.
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