Managing Myself Effectively

One of the major challenges that I had to learn as an entrepreneur is how to manage myself and stay efficient and make effective decisions. I always say that time is relative because I truly believe that. Some days will fly by and prove unproductive, while others sometimes feel like I am centered and focused on doing work that will impact my bottom line.

The main lesson that I have learned is that meditation and visioning play a key role in my ability to stay productive. Anxiety is always my biggest hurdle in remaining productive, so I dedicate time to being alone and thinking as I try to center myself and focus on what my next step should be.

Entrepreneurs tend to get distracted with the next idea, the shiny object that we need to have because that's what will take us to achieve our goals. I try to use the opposite approach. There are many ideas that I want to try but instead of trying to do everything at once, I like to center myself and focus on one task or project at a time. I do this in the effort to manage my anxiety, and it also allows me to manage my expectations.

Managing my schedule is an incredibly important part of being a business owner. Sometimes it is tempting to schedule all of the appointments that I get asked for, but I have made that mistake many times before and I have learned that it's important to center myself and regroup after every session. This allows me the time to stay organized, take notes, and ultimately give better advice and be a better consultant. I try to schedule a maximum of three appointments per day, and I also try to block days out in my week where I have no appointments and focus on regrouping and staying organized. I also like to focus those days on working toward my personal goals that I don't want to leave behind.

The 3 main lessons that I hope you gather from reading this are:

1) Manage your thoughts: Meditation

2) Manage your anxiety, time is relative

3) Manage your schedule and make time for you

The best advice that I have ever received is: "Don't forget to make time for yourself Carolina" . I think that I used to view it as selfish to make time for myself. I also always thought that I didn't have the time to make time for myself. I then learned that time is relative, and it's not that I didn't have the time, it's that I was mismanaging my time. I wasn't taking care of my mind and managing my thoughts as effectively as I could have been.