6 Tips for Staying Energized in Your Business

Being a small business owner is tough work, trust me on this one. There are a multitude of tasks that need to be done every day to ensure your business stays running smoothly and efficiently.

In order to keep up with your business and the high demands of being an owner, there are quite a few tips to help you get through the day without succumbing to artificial products that will only do more harm than good in the long-run.

Wake Up Properly

It sounds silly at first, but waking up the right way is a great start to your day. You can’t wake up on the wrong side of the bed and expect to have a good day. There’s an actual science to waking up the right way and it’s called R.I.S.E. U.P. It stands for;

• Refrain from snoozing
• Increase activity for the first hour
• Shower
• Expose yourself to the sun
• Upbeat music
• Phone someone

Pressing the snooze button keeps you in bed for even longer and before you know it, you’re late for work and in a foul mood because of it. Stay away from that snooze button.

After you pry yourself out of bed, increase your activity by doing something productive. Make breakfast, do some jumping jacks, or maybe even some yoga. If that doesn’t seem to get the job done, take a shower. A shower, even a cold one, gets you motivated and prepared for the day. It’s one of the best ways to wake yourself up.

If you don’t have time for a shower, open the curtains and let the sun in. The light naturally wakes your body up and gets it into “go mode.” After you open your curtains, play some upbeat music to get your body pumped for the day.

The last thing you can do is phone a friend. This makes you increase your level of alertness by forcing you to talk to someone early in the morning. If you can do all of these steps each morning, or at least a few, you’ll find that your day begins much smoother and your mood may increase.

Use Oils

Believe it or not, essential oils and lotions are a great way to keep your energy up while at the office. Jasmine, citrus, and peppermint are a few of the oils that you can rub on your hands and temples to awake your senses. These scents are ideal for waking you up because of their bright scents. Stay away from lavender, though. Lavender is a natural sleep aid and it will only make your lack of energy worse.

Exercise Your Brain

I know, your brain does enough exercising throughout the day by trying to keep up with the high demands of your business, but there are different ways you can exercise it that won’t have you stressed out and lacking energy from it. Play a game that involves brain stimulation such as a crossword puzzle or even a competitive game with coworkers. This will get your energy flowing and after you’re done, you’ll be ready to get back to work. It’s refreshing to take a break once in a while to just have some fun.

Take a Power Nap

It seems like an impossible feat, but taking a short power nap at your desk can really boost your energy. The ideal length for a power nap is about 10 minutes. The reason for this is because if you go any longer than that, your brain hits REM sleep and you’ll wake up groggy and feeling worse than before you took your nap.

If you do happen to dream during that 10 minute nap, it means you’ve hit REM and you’re not getting sufficient amounts of sleep during the night. Hey, if you’re the owner, nobody will give your grief about napping in the conference room or in your office. Even better, for those who work from home, your couch is at your disposal.

Get Sufficient Sleep

In order to start your day on the right foot and not start off tired to begin with, you need to ensure you’re getting the proper amount of sleep. You should be getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night in order to properly function the next morning. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, your body gets into something called sleep debt. If you’re skipping hours of sleep, your body accumulates this and you’ll end up owing so much that your body can’t function and you’ll crash from exhaustion.

If you want to ensure that you’ll make it throughout the day, get enough sleep each night and stay out of sleep debt because it’s not easy to come back from.

Eat Small, Healthy Meals

Heavy meals are one of the worst things you can eat to stay energized. Heavy meals make you feel weighed down and tired. Lighter meals are ideal for giving your body a boost of energy. It should also include a protein of some kind. Protein, such as eggs or plant-based foods, give your body a jump start when needed the most.

Don’t go out with your employees for a giant lunch and expect to get your tasks done throughout the day. The only task you’ll be doing is sleeping for longer than 10 minutes in the break room.

Conclusion

It’s important that as a small business owner or entrepreneur that you can keep up with the high demands it entails. If your business is just starting out, it’s important to not slack to the point of not being able to perform the way you need to for your business to function. Your employees, products, clients, etc., depend on you. If you’re constantly losing energy at work, your employees are going to lose energy, then your business may suffer. So, if you follow the simple tips for staying awake at work, you should have no problem keeping up with the day. It may seem tough at first, but once you get a good routine going, it’ll just get easier from there.

Author: Frank Apodaca is the lead editor of thesleepjudge.com, a website dedicated to improving people’s sleep health and in-depth and hands-on sleep product reviews.