Motivation!

7 Healthy Habits for Entrepreneurs

The new year is here, time to crush some goals and make it the best yet! Below is an article from Inc.com with some helpful tips to get it started right!

Another year is upon us, and you may be wanting to kick off 2014 in a healthy way. But resolutions are like diets: they often fail. Usually because they don’t address your ingrained habits.

In his book, The Knack, my friend and mentor, Norm Brodsky writes about the importance of developing strong mental habits to help drive your entrepreneurial success. Without good habits in place, you are bound to repeat mistakes, waste time and money and squander opportunities that may lead you to your next big achievement.

Developing strong habits will also lead you down the road to success when it comes to your health. This year, instead of resolving to lose weight, or manage your stress better, decide instead to change a core habit that has led to your weight gain or your stressful life. Once you have made a choice about which habit you are going to change, work on it daily until you have mastered it.

Here are seven habits to consider in the New Year that will help move you closer to your health goals:

1. Eat breakfast. Busy entrepreneurs often skip this important meal which can have detrimental effects on focus, concentration, and decision making abilities. Plus, skipping breakfast can lead to increased cravings for sugary, refined foods as well as overeating at night. By committing to a protein-rich breakfast, like eggs, you will go a long way towards balancing your appetite and cravings, making it easier to make better food choices the rest of the day.

2. Eat for health. Cut out processed and refined food and embrace a whole foods diet, paying particular attention to increasing your vegetable consumption. If regimented eating programs feel overwhelming for you, simply clean it up. Not only will you lose weight, but you will improve your health and longevity, too.

3. Exercise regularly. Ideally, you want to strive for 30 minutes of concentrated exercise four times a week. But for entrepreneurs with hectic lifestyles, that may feel like another chore. If that's the case, shoot for just 10 minutes a day. Jump on the treadmill or take a 10 minute walk on your lunch break--just get moving!

4. Go to bed earlier. Studies have proven that lack of sleep can lead to obesity, disease, and elevated stress levels. Getting adequate sleep is one of the most beneficial things you can do for yourself. If it is your habit to stay up late, commit to going to bed at a more reasonable hour. If you bring electronics to bed, make your bedroom a tech-free zone. Read before bed and you will likely fall asleep faster.

5. Go on a TV strike. Television--particularly those 24-hour news channels--is a big contributor to nervousness, anxiety, and depression. If your stress levels are high, shut off the TV and go for a walk, call a friend or check out a movie instead. Filtering out the mindless chatter of the TV will also help with sleep.

6. Fire up the grill. Busy people tend to eat out a lot, opting for convenience rather than high quality foods. But every time you eat a meal in a restaurant you can walk away having consumed as much as an entire stick of butter! Rather than loading up on these calories, commit to cooking more at home. Get a cookbook and experiment. Make nutritious soups and freeze them for quick meals. Get a stove-top grill for healthy salmon or chicken dinners. Keep plenty of vegetables, washed and cut up, in the fridge. Add them to salads or toss with a little bit of olive oil then roast for 15 minutes in the oven for a healthy side dish. Not only will your body benefit from home cooking, so will your wallet.

7. Create smoke-free zones. If you are a smoker and have found it hard to kick the habit, think about the place you tend to smoke the most and then make that a smoke-free zone. By eliminating the one place you do the most puffing, you will dramatically reduce the amount of cigarettes you smoke in a day. Also consider trying e-cigarettes.

Adopt some of these habits, and you'll be well on your way to a happier, healthier new year!

14 Inspirational Quotes for 2014

The New Year is upon us! Below is an article we like outlining some great quotes to give your inspiration a jump start in 2014. Enjoy!

I used to hate inspirational quotes, maybe because my wrestling coach used to say, "If you're not puking or passing out... you're not trying hard enough." (Go ahead: bask in the warm glow of that little gem.)

Now I think inspirational quotes can indeed be inspirational--but only if we actually apply and live those words.

So instead of just grabbing famous quotes we've all heard before, I've picked things people told me that caused me to act differently. I probably won't remember what, say, Ben Franklin once said, no matter how poignant or witty--but I definitely remember what certain people said to me at critical moments in my life:

1. "Only a genius can do things his own way. You? You're no genius."

I worked a construction job one summer and kept questioning what I was told to do. The foreman finally, in no uncertain terms, set me straight.

It's okay to reinvent the wheel... but only after you know how the current wheel works.

Never assume you know better when you don't really know anything.

2. "If you want to know how much you'll be missed when you are gone, put your finger in a bucket of water and then remove it. The hole that's left will be how much you are missed."

No one is irreplaceable. No one. Not even this guy.

Instead of depressing, the thought we're professionally replaceable is liberating. You may not leave a hole, but you can leave a mark on a person, a team, or a culture that lives on after you're gone.

You may not be missed but you can be remembered--in the best possible way.

3. "We all have limits. Almost no one reaches theirs. You definitely haven't."

You could swim faster if a shark was on your tail. You could run faster if your child was in danger. You could work harder if the payoff was truly exceptional.

What we think we can do is always--always--less than what we can do if we really, really try. We always have a little more in us.

Find your true limits and you may find that success is limitless.

4. "Unless you're the lead dog in the sled, the view never changes."

Following the crowd means living the same life as the crowd.

You don't want that.

5. "There are two types of pain you will go through in life: the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Discipline weighs ounces while regret weights tons."

(Original to Jim Rohn.) The worst words you can say are, "I just wish I had..."

Push yourself to do what you hope to do... so you will never have to regret not having tried.

6. "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

(Gotta love Dean Wormer.) I haven't overcome the stupid part... but I'm trying.

7. "The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one."

(Original to Ernest Hemingway.) Think about easing into a cold ocean; every inch is excruciating. Dive in and it sucks big time... but then it's over.

It's even worse to turn away from what scares you because when you do, deep inside, a little piece of you withers and dies.

Dive in. It's never as cold, or as bad, as you think.

8. "Today's pain is tomorrow's power. The more you suffer today, the stronger you are tomorrow."

Self-pity is self-defeating. Tomorrow's success is based on today's discomfort. Plus willpower is like a muscle: the more you exercise it, the stronger your will gets.

And the easier it is to call on when dedication and persistence make all the difference.

9. "Bravery means finding something more important than fear."

Courage without meaning is just recklessness. Brave people aren't fearless; they've simply found something that matters more to them than the fear they're facing.

Say you're scared to start a business. Find a reason that has greater meaning than the fear: Your family's future, your desire to make a difference, or your dream of a more fulfilling life.

When you find a greater meaning you find the courage to overcome your fear.

10. "Do it or not. There is no try."

(Original Yoda, philosopher and avant-garde sentence constructor.) A boss once gave me what I thought was an impossible task. I said, "Okay... I'll try."

He explained that I would finish as long as I didn't quit. Trying didn't enter into it. Persistence was all that mattered.

Often we say, "I'll try..." because it gives us an out. Once we say, "I will," our perspective changes. What previously seemed insurmountable is no longer a matter of luck or chance but of time and effort and persistence.

When what you want to do really matters, never say, "I'll try." Say, "I will," and keep that promise to yourself.

11. "Stop waiting for the 'right time.' Success is a numbers game: the number of times you take a shot."

You'll never create the perfect business plan, never find the perfect partners, the perfect market, the perfect location... but you can find the perfect time to start.

That time is now.

Talent, experience, and connections are important... but put your all into enough new things and some will work. Take enough shots... and over time you'll grow more skilled, more experienced, and more connected... and that will mean a greater percentage of your efforts will succeed. Take enough shots, learn from what didn't work, and in time you'll have all the skills, experience, and connections you need.

Ultimately success is all about taking your shot, over and over again. Sometimes you may win, sometimes you will definitely lose... but the more things you try the more chances you have of succeeding.

Put the power of numbers on your side. Take as many shots as you can. There's no guarantee of success... but when you don't take a shot, there's a definite guarantee of failure.

12. "Resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other guy to die."

The same holds for bitterness. And jealousy. And dislike.

Let it go. If you don't, the only loser is you.

13. "The extra mile is a vast, unpopulated wasteland."

(Me.) Everyone says they go the extra mile, but almost no one actually does. Most people think, "Wait... no one else is here... why am I doing this?"

That's why the extra mile is such a lonely place. That's also why the extra mile is a place filled with opportunities.

Be early. Stay late. Make the extra phone call. Send the extra email. Do the extra research. Help a customer unload or unpack a shipment. Don't wait to be asked; offer.

Every time you do something, think of one extra thing you can do--especially if other people aren't doing that one thing. Sure, it's hard.

But that's what will make you different--and over time will make you incredibly successful.

14. "It's just a flesh wound."

The Black Knight never gives up.

Neither should we.

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