Up Early, Up Late: Uplifting Morale

Sleep is overrated. Necessary, but overrated. The faster a business owner can figure out how to hop out of bed an hour or two early, shake off the aches and grogginess, and tackle the day bright eyed and energetic, the faster their company will begin to take off.

There's the obvious benefit: extra hours in the day to Get Things Done; but there are also more subtle benefits that are even more valuable than the extra draft, blog post, phone call, or meeting that can be squeezed in with the extra time.

Morning people are pleased and inspired when they catch an entrepreneur up and working during their prime time. Later on, the night owls will be gratified to find that same entrepreneur burning the midnight oil. Stretching out the work day means impressing and raising the morale of more people, which translates directly into more people thinking about that entrepreneur's business and working to make it succeed. This network of subconsciously uplifted individuals can accomplish far more than any one person, no matter how passionate and well rested.

Plus, there are serious networking opportunities for those willing to be "at work" across the standard business hours of a variety of time zones.

To counterbalance the strain, it is also important to work Less during weekends. While I do encourage folks to go ahead and push their projects forward over the weekend, it's important to spend some time to recuperate and share a few stress free hours with loved ones. Doing so not only contributes to the mental health of the entrepreneur, their friends, and their family; it also contributes to the good will they have built up with others during the week.

Just as folks tend to like seeing business owners hard at work during all hours of the work week, they also like seeing those owners take it a bit easy during the weekend. It's the time culturally reserved for rest and recreation, and taking some of that time for that purpose humanizes the business owner who worked like a super hero throughout the previous week. Working a short four to six hour day on Saturday and Sunday means that the long weekdays are unlikely to be taken for granted by those who benefit from them.

Thus the image and the reality of a hard working, dependable, energetic, but human entrepreneur is established. People who manage to put forward that image, and live that reality, are exponentially more likely to inspire the best from each and every individual they encounter. And it is that kind of wide reaching support and good will which truly leads to success.