How to beat summer laziness and work on your startup
Summer heat got you down? Putting textbooks away make you feel like productivity shouldn’t exist? Too tempted to chill with friends or take a road trip every other weekend? What if I told you, you can work on your startup this summer, progress on your idea, and still get a good amount of adventure in? Well, believe it! Here are 5 tips to help you accomplish this!
1. PRIORITIZE What needs to be completed for you to feel satisfied with your progress? Sometimes life and work can get overwhelming.
First, make a list of all the responsibilities you’ve got going on this summer like work, summer school, vacations (pft, responsibility…). Then, make a list of attainable milestones for your business you want to reach by the end of summer along with what you wish you could do for fun (examples: survey 50 potential customers, read a book each month, exercise more).
Don’t forget that summer is a time where YOU get to choose what you will be doing and no one gets to tell you otherwise. Analyze your lists and find what is realistic for you to wholeheartedly complete. Maybe you take some things off your plate. Maybe you move some things from the wish list to the do-list. Keep in mind, just because you take something off your plate, doesn’t mean you can’t come back to it in a few months.
Most importantly, make sure to leave room for friends and family and designated days where you don’t think about work at all, for your sanity!
2. DELEGATE YOUR TIME AND STICK TO IT
No matter what you’ve got going on, anything can be done with time management, dedication, and coffee.
Organizing your time at least a week in advance will help you identify and execute needs as well as give you the reins to decide when you work and when you play.
You’ll then find the nooks and crannies of time where you can squeeze chances to work on your startup, see the bigger picture, get more done, and maybe even have a good night’s rest.
Here are two resources to help you hustle while making room to live life the same time: Todoist- If you’re a solo startup, try this guy. It’s simple and easy to use, displaying daily and weekly to-dos. Premium features (like reminder alarms) can be added for a cost. Also, get productivity tips emailed to you when you subscribe to their newsletters!
Resource: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.todoist
Trello- A SPUR favorite! Make categories, set deadlines, attach teammates to the tasks and more. This is great for if you have a team and want everyone to be in the loop.
Resource: Trello.com Now it’s your job to stick to it! The more you do, the more likely you’ll immensely make progress on your goals. Just becare to not to over work yourself (see number 1).
3. STAY MOTIVATED
Surround yourself with like-minded people. Are they other entrepreneurs? Hobbyist? Your family? Keep these people close to you and converse with them frequently. They can help to fuel your interests, get your creative juices flowing, and keep you on track. Follow motivational pages. You know the ones. They have the sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes cheesy quotes pasted on an aesthetically pleasing background. Search for the pages that speak to you and get you pumped! Follow your dream companies. Keep tabs on the companies that you look up to. Whether it be for their success, what they stand for, or how they present themselves online. Remind yourself that you could be like them one day if you try hard enough
4. LEARN HOW TO START A CONVERSATION
We are always looking for the right person to join our business who we click with and bring complementary skills to the table. A network is a group or system of interconnected people or things. But these connections don’t just happen.
HISTORY FLASHBACK: Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple) was introduced to Steve Jobs by a Bill Fernandez who went to highschool with Jobs. WHAT IF WOZNIAK NEVER SAID HELLO TO FERNANDEZ OR VISE VERSA? Wozanaik might not have ever met Jobs, and you wouldn’t be reading this on your smartphone or laptop.
Being out of school can make it harder to connect with others, so start that small talk with your neighbor at a coffee shop. Tell people what you are working on at any (appropriate) event. You never know where it could lead you! Yes, I know what you’re thinking, and no, they won’t steal your idea. This is a common fear between entrepreneurs among many others. Don’t let this hold you back from connecting with the right person to help you potentially making serious strides for your company.
5. GET OFF THE COUCH
Very rarely does success fall into someone’s lap. You might be asking, how do I meet these potentially wonderful partners and make connections? Sure, it may be hard if you don’t know any industry-specific people you can turn to. But once you have the resources, the rest is up to you. So here we are...giving you the resources! Click here to find another posts that talks about finding groups of like-minds, organizing opportunities to connect with them, and what to do once you’re talking to them. Now the rest is up to you!