As a business owner and world traveler, I’ve met a lot of entrepreneurs who run Internet businesses while traveling the world. As I’m very interested in time and energy management, I’ve summarized the best tips for time and energy management.
- Time is an asset.
Many successful business owners who have achieved financial freedom are able to enjoy life – their businesses have been automated; they make money from investing success. The reason they hire managers and employees to automate their businesses is because they highly value their time. They make passive income from their investment because they want to make money while they are asleep.
Clearly, time is the most important asset in life.
I understand that not everyone has financial freedom. I know that most people have to work in order to make money – that’s totally fine, as long as you love what you do at work.
I often travel with freelancers who share the same business model with me. We make a living by running Internet businesses such as freelance writing, freelance graphic design, etc. The No. 1 habit that we cultivated is to adopt selective ignorance. In reality, most information on the internet is negative, time-consuming, outside of my control and irrelevant to what I want to do. Therefore, I don’t look at Facebook or Instagram unless I use social media to learn something or manage my clients’ marketing.
The second habit that we’ve cultivated is to use the time that we do have effectively. According to Parkinson’s Law, work naturally expands to fill the time that is available for its completion. Hence, I always set tight deadlines that I actually stick to.
Previously, when I gave myself four hours to do an hour-long gig, I would use those four hours. But now I have a sense of urgency, so I’m much more productive as a result.
In the past, I spent too much time overcommunicating with high-maintenance clients who happened to be low-profit clients. They caused the majority of the problems in my business. In contrast, nowadays I focus on my most profitable customers so my business is growing in a healthy manner.
What’s more, now I have a virtual assistant who is paid by a client of mine. Thus, I can delegate some of my tasks to this lovely guy.
I don’t automate things that could be eliminated. I also never delegate things that could be streamlined or automated. I don’t want to waste my virtual assistant’s time or my client’s money.
- Good habits that benefit energy management:
A lot of highly effective entrepreneurs and world travelers that I know have many healthy habits which benefit their time management and productivity:
- They get enough sleep every night. Sleep is their top priority in terms of productivity and time management. Some of the most successful people that I know never use an alarm clock because they just want to get sufficient sleep every single night.
- They have regular breaks throughout the day. A friend of mine is a seven-figure business owner and world traveler. He takes a break every hour by dancing to a Britney Spears’s song. He also has a nap after lunch every day. His productivity is tremendous.
- They don’t waste time hanging out with toxic people. Someone that I know literally stopped talking to some of her family members because those people are really bad for her. She says her mental health has become better after making that difficult decision. As a result, she is able to concentrate on her work every day.
“Children take a nap after lunch every day. Adults need that, too. This habit will make you more productive in the afternoon.”
