Why should you live by any rules? Because, that’s what gets your house in order. Being a startup entrepreneur can be quite daunting. Lets face it, starting up isn’t easy. The toughest thing about starting up is taking the first step into entrepreneurship.
But once you do that, you embark on a fascinating journey of self-discovery. You will realize many things about yourself that you did not until now. The last thing you want then is to come across situations that slow down your pace.
I know, you’d be interested in learning what is it that can help you propel your growth. I’ve drawn out these ‘Rules’ to live by from my personal experience that will help you in every aspect of your entrepreneurial journey.
Do not procrastinate. I always execute the most important task in the moment. If it is important to be done right now, I don’t put it off, whatever be the reason.
This is especially important for aspiring entrepreneurs. If you want to startup, do it now. That is what separates you from successful entrepreneurs. They did it. Nothing in this world can be excuse for doing something that you really want, right now.
Write for one hour everyday. Why should you write? For one, writing brings order in your life. Writing helps you to give your thoughts structure. Writing gives you clarity. You have many thoughts throughout the day about your business, ideas that you feel could potentially be developed into game changers, opinion about various things, etc.
Once you start penning these down, you will notice that your thoughts translate into action. And this is because when you start to write, you get more clarity about your thoughts. You are compelled to think deeper about the topic rather than a mere uninformed opinion.
And when you go deeper into your thoughts, you realize a lot of those can be put into action. So don’t bother about how well your sentences and grammar is structured. It is about your insights and not the prose itself.
Meditate every morning. “Many people often find they are constantly going over problems in their minds and this can lead to judgment becoming clouded. For entrepreneurs, meditation is of exceptional importance since decision-making is a key to success. Meditating on a regular basis will allow your mind to rest and recuperate and for you to make clear well informed decisions,” says Glenn Harrold, best-selling author and hypnotherapist.
Don’t think you need hours everyday to meditate. Meditation can be done in the most non-intrusive way possible. Glenn adds, “Once you get the hang of it you will be amazed at how good you will feel as a result and how quickly it can become part of your routine, even if you have a busy day-to-day schedule. It is said that Margaret Thatcher (the ex-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) meditated daily, despite only getting 4 hours of normal sleep per night. Love her or loathe her, she did get a lot of things done!”
How to meditate? Look for a complete interview with Glenn Harrold on my blog where he talks about how one can meditate and make it a part of your daily life.
I never check my email until I’m in office. This leaves me with ample time in the morning to relax and set the agenda for the day. It leaves me with less clutter on my mind or things to worry about. It also helps me get a lot of work done first thing in the morning – writing, meditating, and setting focus on the important tasks of the day.
Say something positive, constructive or a few words of appreciation to each member of your team everyday. You will start to see the positive aspect of each individual and focus on what they’re really good at. It will help boost your team’s morale and also tells them that you’re noticing their contributions. The more you express gratitude, the more you get.
Write a to-do list. Easier said than done, but it must be done. When you wake up in the morning, pick up a handbook and jot down all the tasks that you need your attention that very day.
Now, start striking off tasks that you can live without. Your focus should be retaining only 5 tasks that you absolutely must do today that will help you to get from point A to point B. Not 10 and certainly not 6. Just 5.
Why 5? Let’s say you get about 8 productive working hours each day. You then want to spend at least a good hour-and-a-half’s focus on completing each task.
There, you’ve just made your day a 1000% more productive than it already was.
I just don’t watch television. Period. You can too discover that you suddenly have so much more time in a day when you cut this idiot box out of your life.
Be the best at one thing in your life and be known for that. Matt Wilson, co-founder of Under30Media best encapsulates this. He says, “Everyone has a brand whether you intended to have one or not – good or bad, the people who know you have an image of you in their head. Your goal should be to be in control of this. Think to yourself – what can I be best in the world at and develop that skill, and be known for that.”
Personally, I am best at working with entrepreneurs helping them launch and their ventures, apps and websites. I love to see them smile and take something back from the coaching that I provide them. Their happiness makes me happy. And successful. So, everything that I do in a day, everyday, is towards spreading more and more of that happiness.
If you haven’t already, then do fail and fall down. I did thrice in my career. Yes, I’ve failed thrice before I launched my fourth successful venture, Arkenea Technologies.
“Don’t fight failure. Take it in and redefine what motivates you. If you can get up over and over again after being knocked down and teach others to do the same, then you can become a person of character with strong moral values and a center that can’t be shaken. After all, the practice of failure is necessary and never giving up is really the mark of an entrepreneur,” says Ben Huh, founder of Cheezburger.
Whatever be your circumstances or challenges, these Rules will keep you warm when the chill sets in. These rules will keep you going in the toughest of times.
Do you have your own personal Rules that have worked for you? If so, share them here in comments below.
PS: Also do read my article that was published on Entrepreneur.com recently: How To Turn A Worthless Business Idea Into A Million-Dollar Startup.
And you can subscribe to my blog for regular article updates.
photo credit: Gord McKenna via photopin cc
asha chaudhry
rahul… are you for real?!!!
you’ve got a really interesting set of rules here…
🙂
Abhishek Bharadwaj
Dear Sir
These rules sound too strict to be practical for Entrepreneurs. For established Businesses it may be fine, but startups would get killed if they stick to some of the rules above.
If I am wrong, please correct me.
Rahul Varshneya
Thank you Asha! 🙂
Rahul Varshneya
You will only get by as far as you can imagine to be.
Sandeep Verenkar
Another super post Rahul ! Keep it coming !
Rahul Varshneya
Thank you Sandeep!
Rupesh Agarwal
Great post 😉
Rahul Varshneya
Thank you Rupesh!
Sanchita Dutta
Loved the “No television” part….
Can live without food, husband, children but not without “bade Acche Lagte hai”, “kya hua tera waada” and of course Big Boss 4, 5 or 6 or whatever version running currently 😉
Vijay Khubchandani
Great post Rahul..
I too think that RULES & PRINCIPLES bring DISCIPLINE, which in turn ensures SUCCESS.. 🙂
Puneet Sharma
Ha Ha Ha … interesting. I started to read ….and saw the Rule #1 – Do not procrastinate. (This is what I’ve been doing a lot)
– I stopped reading, and came to comment.
– Heading back to work.
🙂
We were so much into it that we created an app one weekend – so that we can kill time with more ease.
[ For the folks who love reddit and use Windows 8– We’ve come up with an awesome windows 8 App called Procrstn8.
A weekend project of team BearShop. Available at – https://bit.ly/procrstn8 ]
karthik.c
Awesome Rahul! Your posts are really an Inspiration! Going to follow these rules going forward 🙂
Sudarsan Ravi
Rahul – You are an excellent writer. I enjoy your posts and would request you to do a piece on how you developed your blog skills. How do you structure your blog content? Is there a science to how you write and what topics you write on? I would love to learn from your experiences. Keep this going!
Rahul Varshneya
🙂
Rahul Varshneya
Thanks Vijay! And it was a pleasure meeting up!
Rahul Varshneya
Fantastic! Keep the fire burning 🙂
Rahul Varshneya
Thank you Karthik! You can create your own as well 🙂
Rahul Varshneya
Thank you for your comments and I hope you keep coming back for more!
There’s really no science or rocket science for that matter. I just write. I may be a good writer to you, but may not be a good one for someone else. The idea is not how well you write, but what insights you share. And how consistently you keep penning down.
If you start writing today, do that twice a week for two months and you’d become a rockstar, and then I’d subscribe to your blog! 🙂
Kamna Hazrati
great post Rahul!
Rahul Varshneya
Thank you Kamna!
Dr Saurabh Bhatia
Additional rules:
Exercise at least thrice a week, preferably doing yoga. Yoga is exercise and meditation combined and will build patience, yes, THAT patience which is so needed …
As much as doing the important work NOW is important, also learn to not do what can be done better tomorrow. I had this habit of overworking myself, leading to irritation and not such a good end result.
My third rec: keep a white board handy. I have one in bedroom, too, as i think visually. If you are not the kinds who can write, then draw diagrams, processes, flows on ur whiteboard. And look at them.
Lastly, keep ur desk cluttered. Tis way u can keep the clutter out of your head. Perfect desktops are for OCD patients, not you.
Rahul Varshneya
Great! Thanks for sharing Dr Bhatia!