We live in a hyper-connected world of lattes and energy drinks. A world where tech gadgets and the Internet consume large parts of our time. A world where our fingers get the most exercise in our body from typing and adequate sleep happens by accident. If you are an entrepreneur in this world, you had better change planets or you are going to die.

I have recently been taking account of entrepreneurs around me (partners, associates, etc). Many of them are under rested, over worked, over weight, malnourished, and the list goes on. Their general state of health is much poorer than it should be. This trend is not exclusive to my area. It is happening to entrepreneurs all over the US. Here is your wake up call. Take better care of yourself or you are going to die pre-maturely. Did you know that it is more detrimental to your health to not obtain adequate rest than it is to smoke cigarettes? (To the smokers who sleep a lot, this is not an excuse to continue smoking.)

How long would your car last if you ran it on low grade gas, never changed the oil, and drove everywhere with the accelerator mashed to the floor? You wouldn’t make it out of your warranty period before your vehicle was wore out and transformed into a worthless pile of metal and plastic. This is how many entrepreneurs are treating themselves these days. And at this rate, you will not live to fully enjoy the fruits of your labor before you end up in the hospital or the morgue. Your body will begin to break down and try to warn you to make changes. Those of you who listen will make the trip to the hospital. Those of you who don’t. You guessed it, the morgue.

Unlike a car, your body has a remarkable ability to repair and rejuvenate itself. However, similar to a car, your body needs adequate fuel and proper maintenance. If you supply your body with the right fuel and maintenance, it will continue to perform for years to come.

So, what do you need to do? The What is simple. Eat right, get plenty of rest and exercise. You see PSAs on TV telling you this. You have heard it from friends, family, school, and commercials. First, let’s get excuses out of the way. The first and most prominent “I don’t have time.” This is the biggest, forgive me for lack of a better phrase, load of crap that I have ever heard. Everyone has the appropriate amount of time if they want to make the time. It’s not that you don’t have enough time. It is that you don’t want to make the time. I’ll make it simple for you, you make the time now or your body will force you to do so later. For some that’s a trip to the hospital and for others a trip to the morgue. The second most common excuse “It won’t happen to me.” Yes, it will even happen to you. Although some can endure more than others, we are all carbon based lifeforms with the same basic needs to continue proper bodily function. Are you getting the picture?

Taking better care of yourself is actually much more simple than you think. Use what you know about being an entrepreneur and business to help you out. If you are a regular reader of this blog, I have discussed business systems and making things automatic. You know that putting efficient and automatic systems into place in business will increase your chances of success. Do the same for your health. Design systems so that taking better care of yourself is automatic.

In order to eat right, plan your meals. Coffee does not constitute as eating right for any meal. Make sure you have easy to fix and healthy things available for breakfast. Healthy bowl of cereal or oatmeal and perhaps some fruit. Lunch was my difficult meal of the day. I would be so engrossed in my work that I wouldn’t take a lunch and I actually wouldn’t really notice that I hadn’t eaten. To fix this, I started bringing my lunch and setting an alarm. Now, my body is trained to become hungry at roughly the same time each day and I buy frozen lunches to put in my office freezer. At the end of the day, don’t go home and continue to work. At least not before you eat a healthy meal. In the beginning you may find it easier to sit down and plan out your menu for the entire week. Then go grocery shopping and make sure you have everything you need to prepare your menu. Make it a habit and it will become easier. Also, cut down on eating fast food.

Get plenty of rest. Put yourself on a schedule. This was one of the hardest thing for me to accomplish. I had “in a minute” disease. I would be working on something at night and my wife would remind me of the time before she went to bed. I would tell her, “I’ll be up in a minute.” Next thing I know, it is 3 or 4 in the morning and that minute turned into minutes that multiplied into hours. I fixed this by going back to my childhood. I set a bed time. All of you entrepreneurs reading this probably suffer from “in a minute” disease at some level. I’ll let you in on a secret, the work will be there tomorrow and the world will not end if you go to bed on time. Most adults need between 6 to 10 hours of sleep a night. The amount varies upon the person. If you know you need 6 hours of sleep a night and you wake up at 6 in the morning. The math is simple. Go to bed at midnight. Put yourself on a schedule and stick to it. Your body’s Circadian Rhythm will eventually take over and you will begin to get tired at the same time each evening and begin to wake at the same time every morning, even without an alarm. For more information on this topic, read Recharge Your Batteries.

Exercise. I am not suggesting that you buy a workout center or a gym membership. I am suggesting that you do something though. Your exercise can be as simple as a few sets of jumping jacks, sit ups, and push ups every morning. It is actually better to do some exercise in the morning rather than the end of the day. Research has shown that how you start your day is how you will continue your day. Actually learned that little tip from the great Tony Robbins. If you start your day by getting your brain jump started and heart pumping, you will maintain more energy and vitality throughout the day. In addition, if you exercise at the end of the day, you will energize your body at a time when you are supposed to be winding down. You can do other things throughout your day to aid in exercising. Park at the far end of the parking lot to increase your walking. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. If you are on the top floor of a 50 story building, take the elevator to the 49th floor and walk up the stairs for the last flight. To all of you who enjoy video games, get a Wii if you don’t already have one. Wii sports and Wii Fit actually get your heart pumping, blood flowing, and sweat dripping. There are opportunities all around you to get little doses of exercise throughout your day.

In our hyper-connected, latte driven, sleep deprived world, you better slow down, take better care of yourself and smell the roses. Or the only roses in your future are the ones laid on top of your casket. You are an entrepreneur which means you are a person who gets things done. Quit making excuses and just get started. Your body will thank you.

I would like to take some time to discuss your health. If you have read this blog for very long, you know that I believe in trying to eat and act healthy even though the world is trying its best to force us from this path. I am not going to tell you to exercise for an hour a day, only eat fruits and vegetables, and sleep for 8 hours. I never ask anyone to do things I, myself, do not do.

As an entrepreneur, you probably do not eat correctly, work longer than others, and rest less than most. Let me stop you right there and bring something to light…what good is success and wealth if you are not around to enjoy it? A few simple tips and you will be healthy enough to enjoy your success.

Diet. I’m not talking a lack of food but how and what you consume. Eating the wrong food, irregular eating habits, and not enough food can all be just as detrimental as overeating. And believe it or not, everyone of the items I listed will increase the fat on your body. I am walking proof. For most of 2007 I ate fast food for breakfast half of the time, skipped lunch, and ate dinner at 8 to 9 pm. At the beginning of 2007 I weighed about 155 or so with a size 31 waist. By February of 2008, I was 198 pounds and wore size 36 jeans. I refused to break 200 pounds and my jeans were getting snug. My wife suggested Weight Watchers. I decided to try it with her. What did I have to lose? Weight…that’s what. 12 weeks later I was 164 pounds and a size 32 waist! You can read the full story here. Incidentally, I have kept the weight off.

I advocate and suggest the Weight Watchers plan to any entrepreneur, overweight and underweight alike. The plan teaches you how to eat proper portions. I did not have to give up bread, or meat, or any thing else.
The plan also teaches you to eat the right amounts of each food group, regulating your eating habits, and holding you accountable to staying on track. I will admit, it is easier to do with someone to support you. My wife actually invented and concocted many different recipes that are friendly to the Weight Watchers diet. Allowed me to eat and actually get full. You can find those at MoreThanAHouseWife.com and they are available free of charge. If you decide to do Weight Watchers, I would appreciate you trying via the ad in this post. Ad proceeds will go towards helping support the maintenance of this site.

Exercise. As I said from the outset, I am not talking about hours of exercise. I do 100 crunches each morning (2 sets of 50) and 100 push ups every other morning (2 sets of 50). I exercise before breakfast, which I eat at home now. Exercising in the morning gets the blood pumping and generates more energy for you throughout the day. I am not advocating crunches and push ups for your regimen. They are great exercises, but anything to get the blood pumping will work. Yoga, jumping jacks, a brisk walk and pull ups will all work. Doing something to keep your body in shape is better than doing nothing and letting it get worse. Start off small and slow so you won’t get discouraged. Try to work out for 5 minutes each morning and increase as you feel necessary.

Rest. This one is a biggie and I still have a hard time getting a grasp on this one. I can manage multiple companies, employees, budgets, and projects better than I can manage my rest schedule. But rest is very important. It gives your body the much needed time to repair itself from the day’s activities. I wrote an entire post about it. Not getting enough sleep is more detrimental to your body than smoking. Each person is different. Some people require 10 hours of sleep while others only require 6. If you are getting less than 6 hours of sleep (I have been there and still visit that state on occasion) then you need to set your cutoff bedtime and utilize some of that resolve you have towards business and reallocate it to getting to bed. Make yourself go to bed and get 6 hours of sleep every night. If, after a week, you are still tired when you wake up and are dragging throughout the day, then go for 7 hours and repeat the process until you feel refreshed every day.

My point is, we take good care of our businesses, investments, and families. We need to give ourselves the same care. Remember, as of this writing, you only get one body so treat it well. Our businesses, investments, and families rely on us to be around to take care of them. With a little maintenance and self-discipline, we can significantly increase our chances of being there for them for a long time.