Maximizing Your Health While Building Your Wealth

Article by:

Dr. Gaby Cora

EO Speaker

Gaby is a celebrated wellness doctor and coach, best-selling author, keynote speaker and guest lecturer. She is also a wellness consultant to Fortune 500 companies. Gaby last spoke for EO at the 2009 EO LAC Conference. She can be reached at [email protected].

In an ideal world, we would spend eight hours of our day at work, another eight in recreational activities and the last eight hours asleep. The true question is: How many of us live in that ideal world? Not many.

In the real world, most entrepreneurs work 12- to 16-hour days with little recreational time and even less sleep. We are busy worrying about how to keep our companies afloat, handle the emotional toll of lay-offs and prevent downsizing. This has never been more true than now, thanks to the current global economic crisis.

While entrepreneurs are trying their best to hold on to their wealth—often doing the work of two or three people—being on the go 24/7 is counterproductive to high performance and increased productivity. In some instances, we work so much that the pressure starts taking a toll on our health. Too much stress can trigger anxiety, depression and other health problems. It is only when we refresh our minds that we are able to make sound decisions that impact our problem-solving abilities and the future of our business.

Here are some tips on how to maximize your health while building your wealth:

• Focus on the effectiveness of work hours rather than the number: How do you use your work hours? If you keep track of your activities, you may learn how you distribute—or waste—your time. By managing your time effectively, you can complete more real tasks and save on stress in the process.

• Set up clear priorities: Take a good look at your priorities. Make sure you achieve what is high on your list and discard anything with low priority. It’s time to let go. If you claim that everything is an emergency, you will be responding to fires all the time, rather than instituting ways to increase your wealth.

• Have a plan: Most people don’t have a plan, and those who do leave it in their drawer without checking their progress. By having a plan, you can follow your progress and decide if you’re achieving your desired goals. Without a plan, you will end up busy and exhausted, and you’ll see your work suffer in the process.

• Cut down your working hours: What would you do if you were forced to work fewer hours and be more efficient with your time? Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs feel pressured to do this after they have become too sick to work or entangled in a personal crisis. By creating a sense of urgency before these things happen, you can force yourself to become more focused, effective, efficient and productive.

• Effectively maximize your nutrition, exercise, sleep and relaxation: If you’re a successful entrepreneur, you are certainly leading under pressure. You will need to find time to eat healthy, exercise routinely, sleep six to eight hours without interruption and relax. It’s not a matter of whether someone who is overworked will exhaust his or her energy, it’s a matter of time. If you take the initiative to improve these aspects of your life, you will find that each helps you de-stress on a daily basis, letting you focus more on building your business.