5 Ways to Improve the Performance of Your Greatest Asset: You

JONATHAN LONG

We are constantly looking for ways to enhance, grow and improve our assets, but we often overlook the most important one of them all. Your greatest asset is not your bank account, stock portfolio, 401(k) or real estate holdings -- it’s you.

What are you doing to make sure you perform at your very best? Imagine if your personal performance started to suffer -- your business would soon follow. Here are five simple ways to improve the performance of your greatest asset.

1. Prioritize your health and wellness.

For your business to thrive, you need to be involved. This won’t happen if you are in and out of the hospital with health issues. Regular exercise and an intelligent diet helps your body and mind operate at peak performance. 

Time is a rare commodity -- but make sure to carve out at least 30 minutes a day for physical exercise. If you are bound to a desk and chair all day make sure to get up and stretch every hour. A mid-day walk also goes a long way to help combat the health risks associated with sitting for long periods of time.

2. Delegate and outsource all of your busy work.

You will operate so much more efficiently if you can eliminate all of the busy work that typically slows you down. When you don’t have tedious tasks pulling at you from all directions you can focus 100 percent of your attention on the objectives that directly impact the growth of your business. 

Learning to delegate was difficult for me at first -- I felt like I had to do everything myself to ensure it was done correctly. I learned to trust the people I have in place and delegation has allowed me to focus on more important parts of my business related to growth. More doors and opportunities have opened up simply because I pushed all of those little time sucking tasks off my daily plate.

3. Don’t hold back stress and anger. Voice your opinion.

If you ignore the issues that are causing you to become stressed out and angry it’s just going to keep building up until you explode. This isn’t good for anyone involved -- it’s best to address anything that upsets and angers you on the spot.

Sure, take time to assess the situation and come up with a well thought-out solution, but don’t keep putting it off and letting it build up. When you don’t have pending issues or stress on your mind you can devote all of your energy to what’s important -- working on your business and working towards your goals. 

4. Have fun, and include your team members.

If you aren’t having fun then you need to reconsider what you are doing and try something new. Having fun is one of the most overlooked components of success. Sales, money and growth are usually on top of the priority list -- but if you aren’t having fun you are going to burn out and your performance will suffer, eventually impacting your business. 

The same concept applies to your employees and team members -- if they are having fun they are going to enjoy what they are doing, and that will directly impact how they perform. Make sure you create a fun work environment but also consider hosting an out-of-the-office event once a month or even once a quarter -- something as simple as an evening of bowling can really help to keep the fun vibe alive and well. 

5. Find a mentor.

Ask every successful entrepreneur for one piece of advice and you will undoubtedly have several of them tell you to get a mentor. You aren’t going to have the answer to every question and some situations are going to leave you seeking help.

Rather than stress out or scramble for a solution you can simply pick up the phone knowing you will have someone on the other end that is there to help. Having a mentor that you know you can turn to any time eliminates a lot of unnecessary stress. Less stress equals better personal performance.

Bonus: Network with other like-minded entrepreneurs.

There is no such thing as too much knowledge -- you should constantly strive to learn more. Networking with other like-minded individuals can help you spark new creative ideas, conquer obstacles you are faced with and learn from the experience of others. 

EBOC (Entrepreneurs & Business Owners Community) is an online community that I built to provide a place for like-minded entrepreneurs from all over the world to gather and network. It launches on July 15 and you can join the pre-launch list here.