And for some of the world’s most driven and successful people, one industry-defining company simply isn’t enough. Jack Dorsey famously serves double-duty as CEO of both Twitter and Square. Elon Musk, as close to a maverick, super villain-esque billionaire/philanthropist as we have today, is CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX; both these companies are undoubtedly at the front of their respective industries in innovation, financing, and promise.

If you’re a budding entrepreneur, you may be balancing your fledgling endeavor with a full-time job. Or you may be balancing multiple rolls in the same company, or even heading up a few different businesses at once. Whatever your multitasking needs, try these time-honored (and pro-tested) tips to keep all your responsibilities in line.

1. Compartmentalize Your Time.

Avelist founder Jody Porowski wrote about her experiences balancing a full-time job with a new startup. A big takeaway? “Find your rhythm.” Figuring out the time management strategy that works for you is step number one, but step number two is just as important and sometimes more difficult: sticking to it.

Compartmentalizing the same way every day is a great, effective way to make sure you’re devoting time across the board without feeling overwhelmed all at once. A few hours in the morning for this leaves the afternoon for that, spend a week or two playing around and seeing what feels best productivity-wise, then ruthlessly compartmentalize from there.

And Jack Dorsey has been doing this successfully since 2011, splitting (roughly) equal time in his day for Twitter and Square. He even travels between offices, creating a physical separation as well as mental when completing and delegatings tasks at his two behemoth companies.

2. Perfect a System for Triage.

Elon Musk famously juggles big challenges every day, and between two high-speed tech companies, he’s got a lot of fires to put out.

Practicing triage means prioritizing what needs to get done when it needs to get done. And while separation is key, it doesn’t mean emergencies won’t arise that require to you break down those barriers. Set up boundaries with colleagues or employees ahead of time: What is important or pressing enough to demand my immediate attention, all other factors be damned, and what channel is best for these notifications?

Clear boundaries up front will avoid gray areas that can sap productivity in the middle of a busy day; make sure the emergencies that demand immediate attention are just that.

3. Create Separate To-Do Lists.

Let’s take it back to #1 in this article: compartmentalizing can prevent a sense of being overwhelmed. Similarly, breaking up your to-do lists will help keep that page of tasks from seeming insurmountable. Stepping into your other role, either physically or mentally? Switch pages and see your to-do list with clear, unclouded eyes. It’s a great way to keep focus straight and anxiety low.

4. Find Your Brain Routine.

For some people, it’s coffee at a certain time. For others, it’s a productivity stack. We’re obviously big fans of nootropics, supplements designed to help increase focus, boost mental energy, help memory recall, and provide cognitive endurance, and they’ve made their way into our daily routines in varying amounts. That’s why we’ve reviewed dozens upon dozens of the most popular ones.

Everyone reacts to supplements differently, and it may take some trial to figure out the stack that works best for you. We suggest starting slow and simple and keeping in mind that individual tolerance may vary, and a little bit can go a long way toward helping you power through a mentally challenging day!

5. Network In Your Down Time.

Have a free moment? Think about how you can use it to connect with new contacts or rekindle old relationships. Cab rides or coffee breaks are great for this. And if you need a good rule of thumb for increased, effective networking, just remember to never eat a meal alone (at least, when it can be avoided within reason). Meal time is prime time for catching up and seeing where synergy lies across personal experience and business.

6. Prioritize Sleep.

Seriously, don’t skimp on the sleep. No one wants a sleepy entrepreneur pushing for energy or brainpower they just don’t have. And if a racing mind is still keeping you up at night, consider taking some calming magnesium, it’s worked wonders for a few of our testers.

The post How the World’s Best Entrepreneurs Juggle Multiple Projects appeared first on Brain Wiz.

Ultimately, they also get us in the most trouble in our professional lives, as demanding clients, bosses, or partners wonder why Document X isn’t complete yet, and that’s not even taking the editing process into consideration. In my experience, longer or more in-depth writing tasks cause about 75% of my work-related stress. If I’m working on a side project or starting a new venture, they’re the major roadblock that keeps initiatives grounded for longer than they need to be.

Let’s be frank: It’s not the actual duration of the assignment that causes anxiety (which builds and builds in vicious spiral of “let’s put this off again”). It’s the prospect of FORCED CREATIVITY that really holds back completion. These are tasks you can’t (or at least imagine you can’t) complete on autopilot, and it’s really the prospect of starting hard work that prevents work from getting done in the first place.

There’s no magic formula for overcoming this in one fell swoop (though there are certainly dietary changes and supplements that can help boost creativity). However, by attacking these FORCED CREATIVITY tasks at one particular time of day, they’re much easier to overcome and much easier to prioritize over the minute distractions and smaller items on your checklist that can almost certainly wait until after your next water break. And that one particular time of day just so happens to be the period when you’re LEAST likely to even THINK about hitting the very top of your agenda.

It’s after breakfast, coffee, and supplements, but before you even think about doing anything else; it’s basically first thing in the morning, and it’s the ONLY real time you’ll have for distraction-free creativity. Your mind is free of accumulated stress because you haven’t had a chance to fixate on the day’s challenges. There’s no room for mental gymnastics to prioritize a smaller task over the important one in front of you. Your goal is clear, straightforward, and singular: It’s time to write.

Some of the world’s most successful writers and researchers (notably Food Politics mastermind Marion Nestle) use this strategy to pump out insanely original, informative content, and the same principle is mastered by titans of business who tackle tough tasks first thing and then watch as their competitors play catchup throughout the day.

Sleep well, wake up, fuel your brain, and then WRITE. Everything else can wait until you hit “Save.”

The post The Absolute Best Time To Write (And Stop Procrastination In Its Tracks) appeared first on Brain Wiz.

Below are five reasons entrepreneurs are supplementing to work a little bit smarter every day.

1. They’re easy to take and help prepare your brain for stressful work and tasks.

Images of mad scientists or drug-crazed hippies don’t describe these supplements. Many are lab-tested and sourced from natural ingredients. Completely legal and made under stringent manufacturing standards, these are hardly black-market mystery pills. And quick-metabolizing ingredients mean they give you a clarity boost from day one.

2. Ingredients like Cognizine promote neuron health and neurotransmitter function.

The brain is one of the least-understood organs, though more and more research is giving us clarity on how our neurons fire and work together. Cognizine is one ingredient that’s been shown to protect and promote neuron function, and expect more research to come soon on this popular ingredient.

3. Natural herbs like Huperzine A boost brain function and performance.

Actual lab science exists to back the effectiveness of ingredients found in many popular nootropics. And several trials show a boost in users who use smart supplements as compared to control groups. These are supplements we wish we’d had for our SATs.

4. They’re proven to increase alertness and mental clarity.

Controlled trials on users taking popular nootropics suggest increased alertness and feelings of clarity. Stress won’t ever be fun, but a focused head can help entrepreneurs tackle even the most abstract problem, including supply chain issues or hiring big teams effectively.

5. Completely legal with value trial periods.

Are smart supplements right for everyone? Probably not. Fortunately, many manufacturers offer heavily discounted trials so you can try them out for yourself. It helps users shop around and compare from a growing variety of available supplements with increasingly researched ingredients.

The post Why More Entrepreneurs Are Turning To Science Backed Brain Supplements appeared first on Brain Wiz.

Below are five key brain hacks that help business owners keep their heads straight when the path to success is anything but.

1. Write It Down (By Hand)

It might remind you of elementary school, but writing down a to-do list and taking copious notes (on everything) is a proven way to retain more information, even if you never look at those notes again. Keeping a notebook happy is also insurance against losing a fleeting thought that could turn into your next great idea. Some entrepreneurs we talk to even keep a journal or small notebook next to their bed so they can record thoughts and ideas from dreams as soon as they wake up, while abstract thinking is still fresh.

2. Up Your Fitness

The brain is very much a part of your body, and ignoring one will wreak havoc on the other. Exercise, both cardiovascular conditioning and weight training, has been shown to increase productivity and the brain’s ability to store and categorize new information (in addition, it’s good for overall mental health and function). Billionaire and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson has claimed he gets an additional four hours of work done each day because he takes the time to exercise, which ups your mental and physical fitness at once.

3. Supercharge Your Brain

It’s no secret we’re fans of gaining a mental edge. Brain-boosting supplements, also called nootropics, are an increasingly popular way to boost productivity and sharpen focus among business owners. There are several science-backed supplements in this category, including some from herbal, natural, and even organic sources. Our reviewers have cut through the hype and separated fact from fiction in outlining which work for certain lifestyles, professions, or preferences.

4. Work Standing Up

Want to up your work output by 10%? Try standing while working. Whether it’s at a custom standing desk or one you fashion by putting your laptop on top of old phone books, a standing workstation benefits posture and productivity while fighting fatigue and reducing procrastination. In our experience, it takes a few days of adapting, but there’s a pronounced uptick in work energy less than a week in.

5. Set Smaller Goals

Starting a company is daunting; making it success is an even scarier prospect. Start small and subdivide to-do lists in order to bite work off into manageable chunks. Make incremental progress, a goal to accomplish within a day, afternoon, or hour, without procrastination, and the big picture starts to come into focus much clearer.

The post Five Brain Hacks That Help Entrepreneurs Succeed appeared first on Brain Wiz.

Entrepreneurs are the most driven people on the planet. They’re constantly seeking to innovate, and more often than not, that means tackling harder problems than anyone else. And even if the solutions they develop are simpler and more streamlined for consumers, the work behind the curtain can be incredibly complicated.

But the biggest problem entrepreneurs face, the one that stops them cold more often than anything else, isn’t figuring out an elegant solution or bringing a concept to market. It’s usually the step that seems like the simplest one in building a successful business or service.

Simply put, most would-be entrepreneurs get stuck because they’re intimidated by learning a new industry or market inside and out. But there’s a simpler way to face the challenge.

The first stage of learning seems like the easiest and most fun part of a new venture. But the prospect of learning something completely new without a textbook guide or roadmap kills most ventures before they get off the ground. You want to learn about an industry in order to fix it? Even if you have an idea of how you’re going to revolutionize a market, there’s no step-by-step way to learn all its details, especially if you don’t work in it day to day. It’s like college without professors, a syllabus, or even an idea of where to start.

But there is a way around this, and it’s by barreling straight through the information, twice.

Learn an industry once as a consumer, then go back through again from the viewpoint of a businessperson. Defining your entry point seems like the toughest math problem in the world, but in reality, there’s no wrong answer, because you’re going to go through it all again.

Step one is to approach a product space, industry, or market from the viewpoint of a normal buyer or consumer. You want to fix an industry? Try it out as is. Don’t worry about making sure you take all the information in at once. Just do whatever it takes to get a general consumer experience. See where it succeeds, see where it fails, and note where you’re entirely confused. If you come to a dead end, that’s okay, you’ve simply identified a point that needs tweaking. Step one should be stress free.

Between steps one and two, it’s time to get your mind in order. You have the basic information, you’ve made your mental syllabus because now you have the landscape in view. Now’s the time to prep your brain (or even supercharge it) for a step when clarity and objective perspective is everything.

Step two is to look back through your consumer experiences from the entrepreneur’s perspective. And here’s the key: take copious notes. Write them down by hand, record them in a spreadsheet, put sticky notes all over your laptop. By now you know where the pain points lie for your potential customers. Do they have to exist that way? Can they be bypassed? And most importantly:

What DON’T your consumers know about the process?

Was there something you didn’t care about or something you overlooked when acting as a consumer? Think about what it takes to fulfill that product or service, then deduce what went on behind the scenes (or what didn’t). Notice any gaps or have any questions? Just can’t figure something out?

Excellent. That means you’ve started to identify industry secrets and behind the scenes knowledge. With those specific questions or mysteries in mind, you can go about finding the final answers you need to become an expert on the field. Ask people or companies specific questions, and they’re likely to give you a straight answer. Ask them something general like “What’s your biggest pain point?” or “How does your fulfillment system work?” and they’ll ignore you from the start.

The more specific your question, the easier it is to find an answer, whether you’re turning to an industry veteran, Google, or a particular subreddit.

Go through your problem twice. Make the first pass stress free. Prepare your mind for step two, and then charge forward confidently, after all, you already know more than when you started, and with new information already flowing, intake seems that much less intimidating.

The post The Mental Obstacle That STOPS Entrepreneurs In Their Tracks (And How To Fix It) appeared first on Brain Wiz.