Taking A Moment 001

As I sit in my car mentally preparing myself for this work week, I start to drift off into deep thought. Sometimes we forget to take a moment to pause. We get so wrapped up in the ins and outs of our usual day to day. Wake up. Rush to get ready for the day. Sit in traffic. Grab a coffee if time permits. Work a 9-5 that we may or may not be satisfied with. Sit in traffic some more. Tend to our home. Sleep. Repeat. It usually isn’t until we have run ourselves ragged that we take a moment to rest. I’m guilty of it myself. Well, I’m here to remind you all to PAUSE and take a moment to rest.

I see a lot of “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” posts circulating social media from entrepreneurs boosting about how if you sleep then you aren’t grinding hard enough. Honestly, I don’t want to just sleep when I’m dead. I need rest now. In fact, your body thrives off of rest. Being an entrepreneur can be time consuming. Hell, even working a 9-5 can be consuming. But what good are you if your body can’t properly reset? I see so many people bragging about how they haven’t slept in days or how they have only gotten 1-3 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours. I’m going to let you in on a little secret: it’s possible to be successful AND get an ample amount of rest on the daily. Seriously!

One thing that works for me is utilizing calendar and reminder apps. Because I often have a million and one things to do, I have to write it all down and set reminders for myself. I’m a pretty simple person. I use Google Calendar, Notes and Reminder on my iPhone. I create a to-do list and order things from most important to “ehh it can wait until tomorrow” and then I start knocking things out one by one. Writing lists helps me stay focused and keeps my day running pretty smoothly. When at work, I use Outlook Calendar to keep up with meetings, days off, deadlines, etc. Every morning as I go through my emails, I create a “get shit done” list that way I can see all that I need to do for the day and cross it off as the day goes by. Emails tend to get lost in the mix when it comes to work so writing things down is much easier for me.

Do what works best for you. But I promise you, staying up for 24+ hours just to “grind” isn’t the proper way to “get shit done.” If you start to make it a habit, your body will shut down on you and force you to rest. I’m sure that is the last thing that you want. If you don’t already, I suggest using a calendar and/or a reminder app. There are so many available on your phone and let’s face the facts, it’s a digital world. It’s rare that one is ever without their phone. If you’re anything like me then your phone is probably always within arms reach. Set your reminders and conquer the day.

Please don’t over-exhaust yourself. I had to learn that lesson myself. Staying awake for hours on end left me with no energy whatsoever. I have drifted off while driving. Fallen asleep while working/studying. Made several errors while working because I was unable to focus. And much, much more. But now, when my body powers down I listen. Nine times out of ten some of those tasks can wait until the next day. Take care of you. You’re only given one life to live. The grind never stops…but it can pause for some much needed rest.

A few apps that I recommend:

1. Google Calendar

2. Reminder (pre-installed on iPhone)

3. Notes (pre-installed on iPhone)

4. Productive

5. Any.Do

6. Fantastical

7. 24me

8. Summit

* I own an iPhone so I am not familiar with productivity apps available in the android market. I would recommend searching “calendar”, “to-do”, and/or “reminder” when searching for helpful apps.

** I’ve used all of these apps at one point. I wouldn’t recommend anything I haven’t tried myself.