Business
Operating at the top of your game and being the very best you can be is essential to being successful. If you can find a way to always give 100%, no matter what you are doing, then you will most likely find yourself in a successful position if you keep at it long enough. But how do you continue to do your best, every single day – day in and day out? How do you keep from burning out? Burnout happens to all of us at some point along the way. We try our best in the beginning, but eventually ‘other’ things start to sneak into our mindset and overwhelm can quickly and easily take over. We allow ourselves to take shortcuts and to lose focus. We get lazy about things that are hard to focus on. We start to let quality drop in certain areas. We start to feel run-down and tired, and sometimes, we even end up losing interest in doing a great job altogether. Now we are going to explore 5 tips for always doing your best. These tips are simple, and can really help you to get on top of your game. And once you are there, they will also help you to stay there! Tip #1-Get Enough Sleep This might seem like a no-brainer, but sleep is essential to doing your best. Having enough sleep is actually so vital that you could find not getting enough of it can actually physically keep you from performing tasks at the height of your ability. A lack of sleep can not only cause drowsiness and the inability to focus, but can also result in impaired cognitive function, making it harder for you to reason and think logically. If you normally stay up late and find yourself drowsy and half-asleep in the morning, you might need to re-think your sleeping pattern. Try going to bed a half hour or an hour earlier than normal, so that you allow your brain the kind of time it needs to wake up on its own. Statistics actually show that many of us go through life sleep deprived. Imagine the difference that you could make in your life if you were fully rested and raring to go each and every day! Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t wake up wishing you could sleep for another hour or two? Tip #2-Maintain a Healthy Diet Eating right is actually essential to doing your best. Some people have a huge problem with this. Their diet consists of soda, chips, cookies, and anything else they can get out of a vending machine or at the fast-food restaurant. A bad diet saps your energy, makes you tired, and hurts your immune system. Try going on a special whole-foods only eating plan (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, eggs, etc.). The difference can be astounding! You will not believe how much better you will feel, even if you don’t think you feel bad now. Tip #3-Get Enough Exercise By now, you might feel as though you have heard more ‘health’ tips than you care to… but that is actually a good thing! Staying healthy is the most important thing that you can do to get on top and stay on top at work, and exercising is absolutely no exception. Try to get at least twenty minutes of exercise a day, whether it is a walk around the block several times, a run on the treadmill, playing a sport with your friends, or even doing strength training exercises right in your office (sit-ups, push-ups, squats, etc.). If at all possible, try to get outdoors for your exercise, though bad weather might restrict you to the treadmill from time to time. Tip #4-Focus on Individual Tasks Doing your very best can be extremely overwhelming if you look at everything at once, which is why breaking your day down into smaller tasks can really help you. Instead of looking at your entire day, first just think about getting to work and making those revenue generation calls (the ones you may not like making but are critical to your success). Focus first and foremost on the highest payoff activities that will put you in the most advantageous position to achieve your goals. Then you can do your lower payoff activities during what I call, ‘non-prime time’. You still have to do them but they aren’t as important. This