1. Business over Busyness

If someone were to ask me the best advice for anyone who wants to start their own business, then it would be #1.

Remember that looking busy and telling everyone around you that you don’t have time isn’t the best option. It will only lead to loneliness and depression.

Everyone has the same amount of time, but some of us can manage it wisely and some of us can’t.

Business isn’t about working 14 hours a day and trying to do as much as possible. It’s about the final meaning of what you’ve done. It’s about how much you really made rather than how much time you spent doing it.

There’s an illusion that most entrepreneurs are the ones who wouldn’t let a single minute be wasted. However, it’s not true. Most entrepreneurs work in the ‘right’ way and repeatedly have some time for family, friends, networking, relaxation, and other aspects of our everyday lives.

By embarrassing the phrase — “Business over busyness” you’ll start noticing how easy life gets.

You’ll understand that half of what you do isn’t making any impact, and you’ll be left with a bunch of additional time for other activities!

3. Smart Delegation

The other way of freeing up your time can be through ‘smart delegation’.

Nobody can be good at everything at the same time, and we all know it. It’s crucial for anyone to understand the main vector and activity that you’re most interested in.

All of the other activities should be delegated to your co-workers. And it’s literally the purpose of any entrepreneur—to find the problem and build a team of professionals around solving it.

It’s pretty easy to understand, but I’ve faced this problem myself. I thought that I could handle everything, starting with prototyping, designing, programming, and marketing.

But I was hell-out wrong, and my project completely failed.

Even with the rise of AI services that help you do everything faster and more efficiently, it’s still better to find someone who will do it for you!

2. Pause and Problem-Solve

This involves taking a step back, observing the situation without judgment, and then acting.

It can lead to more creative and effective solutions, which is especially useful for brainstorming.

We usually want to solve the problem as fast as possible without leaving any time to think about and understand the problem itself. You need to take a short pause and reflect on it.

Then it would be time for you and your team to find the most creative way to solve it!

4. Sensory Dive

‘Sensory Dive’ is just a cool name for avoiding multitasking.

That’s right; as I mentioned earlier, you can’t be good at everything.

Especially if you’re trying to combine several tasks into one and try to handle them at the same time.

Trust me, multitasking won’t give you anything, it will only take a bunch of time and give the illusion of ‘busyness’ that we’ve discussed previously.

And when I talk about sensory diving, I’m talking about fully engaging with the process. Not just the work itself.

For example, focusing solely on the taste and texture of food during meals, or the sounds of nature during a walk.

5. Tech-Free Hours

Establishing a routine where the first or last hour of the day is free from technology can help you disconnect and reduce stress.

It’s highly important not to use your phone in the morning or before going to bed.

The blue light that your smartphone emits is potentially harmful to your eyes. This particular type of light can inhibit the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates your sleep-wake cycle, also known as your circadian rhythm.

As a result, exposure to blue light can make it more challenging to fall asleep and can disrupt your sleep pattern, making you feel less rested the following day.

It’s also just a waste of time. If you took a phone in the morning, then your whole day would be less productive and more overwhelming.

6. Silent Start Meetings

I haven’t seen anyone talking about it, and you can’t imagine how useful it can be. At the beginning of your meetings, start with a moment of silence for focus.

Most people go to the meetings because they ‘have to’ and most of them don’t even understand what they need to do.

Several minutes of silence at the beginning will make everyone think about why they are here.

Include the fact that not many people will want to do it; you need to find some unique approach for each individual and make some sense of your actions!

7. Self-Reflection

Many people are so engaged with the pace of life that they absolutely forget about the world around them. Self-reflection can help you go deeper into yourself and discover something that you never knew about yourself.

As we discussed previously, it’s crucial to have some free hours in your day when you’re not working and not using your devices. The best way to spend this time would be to walk and think about what is really meaningful to you.

It’s also important to start noticing the world around you. Sometimes, we need to look from a diffused perspective rather than a focused one.

Relax a little bit and spend your time noticing!

8. Engaged Learning

I think everyone has already heard that you have to spend at least 4 hours per week learning something new. And it doesn’t matter who you are or how much time you have.

If you don’t learn something new repeatedly, then you’ll just be left with nothing. The world is a constantly changing machine. Every day, something new is invented that will probably completely change the world in the near future.

If you're a conservative and do the same thing over and over again, then you’ll be replaced easily. In the next 5 years, many professions will fall off, and we’ll need more specialists in the new spheres.

I’m a UI/UX designer myself, and I remember thinking of this rule all the time. With the release of Apple Vision Pro, I started diving deeper into the XR world and how to make proper interfaces for the future technology revolution!

9. Mindful Meditation

Meditation is a pretty basic technique, but many people still ignore it. There’s nothing special or difficult; you just need to spend 10–20 minutes a day relaxing and trying not to focus on anything.

You can do it however you want, with closed or open eyes. Sitting with crossed legs in the garden, or lying in bed. It doesn’t matter where or how; it matters only the process itself.

I’m not a meditation guru, but I’ve been practicing it for over a year, and it really made me less stressed and more focused, and it just gave me some free space for the mind.

10. Success Visualization

Of course, every entrepreneur wants to achieve something and build a successful product. And it’s critical to know how to visualize it right.

If you don’t show the progress to yourself and your team, then nobody feels any movement at all. In other words, to see real success, you need to spend time visualizing it and making everyone pay attention to it.

And you don’t actually have to spend a bunch of time on it. It would be enough just to make a presentation of what you’ve achieved together and what you’re going to accomplish in the near future.

Most of the statistics and graphics you can throw in the trash. You need to add some emotion to your achievements rather than using numbers.