Part 2: Brain Hacks for Business Success from the Top Tech Entrepreneurs at 2019 CES Showstoppers!

Let’s “Talk Tech Tuesday” as we continue our search for tips, tricks and brain hacks from the world’s most successful business leaders at The 2019 Consumer Electronics Show. Each of these business leaders has shared with us their professional or personal advice that lead them to success in their industry.

1. CREATE A MORNING ROUTINE THAT WORKS FOR YOU

Successful business leaders are those who know what needs to be accomplished within their day and get it done with no excuses. Getting up in the morning at a time that fits with your schedule, and leaves you with extra time before work is the first step to starting your day off on a positive note. That one to two hours in the early morning before you go to work or start your daily tasks are suggested to be the most mentally stimulating and productive hours of the day.

 

“I like to get up a few hours earlier at the beginning of each day. I spend the first two hours of every morning sitting down with a fresh mind to review and write content. This time of the day is when I’m on and feel most focused. No distractions, no phones, no meetings, and most importantly, no exceptions. It is crucial to get into this daily habit to see the results you want in your business.” – Jessica Stalker, Director of Startup Marketing, Enventys Partners

2. PLAN YOUR WEEK BEFORE IT STARTS

Once you have mastered planning your day to achieve your goals, take it a step further and begin planning for your entire week! Having a set plan for your upcoming week and being aware of what needs to be accomplished can eliminate the stress that is so common in a hectic and unexpected lifestyle. How you set up your personal schedule will manifest into how productive and successful you will be in all aspects of life, especially in your work environment. What you put into your body, your water intake, exercise, and sleep are all very important.

“It is crucial for all of us to realize our daily habits can be good or bad health predictors. Those who know how to manage these daily habits and arrange them to accomplish their goals are the most successful. I make it a habit to take one hour of my Sunday morning before everyone wakes up to plan for the week ahead. It gives me a defined purpose and helps me navigate my tasks efficiently. Being proactive and prepared helps in mitigating everyday stress.” – Subhashree Sukhu, Marketing Director of CarePredict, Inc.

3. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS WITH WEEKLY MEETINGS

Monday is a great day to hold a team meeting where employees can track their progress with assigned tasks and go forward making new goals for the weeks to come. Having a team leader who can summarize everyone’s work is a great way to hold yourself and your team accountable. When you and your team set targets and eventually reach those targets, it will motivate you to continue your diligent work and you will thrive within your industry.

“My hack for success is to give my team several different targets at the beginning of each week. Every night I have a summary of everyone’s work and we track progress. I personally do professional services to bring in the funds for the startup. As a result, I am only in the office of the startup 1 day a week.”– Tony Allibelli, CEO & CTO of DataKlub

4. CLARITY IS KEY

Often times when working on a project, simple confusions that stem from a lack of proper communication are what cause setbacks and conflict. Many times we are engaging in classic issue immortalized by George Bernard Shaw, who stated, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” Working on creating strong clarity between coworkers can communicate messages in a way that gets work done faster and minimizes confusion.

“Having this clarity with others indirectly makes us more comfortable with ourselves. More specifically, it is important to always express your thoughts. Trust that your insight will be beneficial to those around you. Do not beat around the bush while communicating in business aspects with coworkers. Be direct while still remaining polite. This will help save time and conflict between your coworkers and lead to a more cohesive working group.” – Hakan Yerlikaya,  Founder of BuQuaTi

5. OVERCOME YOUR CHALLENGES WITH A CREATIVE MINDSET

Your brain is constantly in an efficient mode, looking for ways to use less energy. And often, unless forced, you don’t think much at all. But obstacles force us to think, and that brainpower ignites creativity and we become more resourceful. Everyone goes through challenges in their business, but these struggles determine your strength and one of those strengths is creativity. When a problem arises, it forces you to be creative in your response or solution. This solution can, in turn, change the shape of your overall business and implement the philosophy to solve problems with creative solutions before they occur.

6. DECOMPRESS WITH A NEW HOBBY

It is important to have a healthy hobby you can look forward to when it is time to unwind from a long day at work. Whether this hobby is by yourself or with a group of friends/coworkers after work activities are known to boost self-esteem and give workers a sense of accomplishment.

Elad Katav suggests art. “Working with a brush is known to lower stress. We all know what a long hard day of working can do for our focus and energy levels. Getting active, reading, sewing, painting are all good ideas that can help you relax and refresh so that you are ready to tackle the next day with a clear mindset”.  Elad Katav, Founder and CEO Cupixel

7. CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES WISELY

Employees in the United States spend an estimated 2.8 hours each week dealing with conflict at work, adding up to more than $350 billion in lost productivity each year.

It is important to not use your energy on little nuisances that we deal with on an everyday basis. Determine what is worth fighting for and what is not worth your time will allow you to focus on what is truly important in your day to day tasks. It will also help you get along better with your coworkers in a group setting. When you can agree to put differences aside, you will be more effective in reaching your goal.

“There is no silver bullet to success. It’s a mixture of attitude, execution, and focus that will allow you to reach success.”– Mohammad Musa, Co-Founder & CEO of Deepen AI

8. PLAN SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM GOALS TOGETHER

We all know long-term goals are important. But as we focus on long-term goals, we sometimes forget the many things we must accomplish in order to reach them, as they may become lost or too vague for us to reach. Goals such as running a marathon, obtaining your dream job, or reaching $1 million dollars in net worth, are all big long-term goals. The more important part of reaching those long-term goals are actually the many steps we have to take, otherwise known as our short-term goals. The short-term goals we stick to daily, or weekly, will be the driving force to reach that ultimate future goal.

“One idea would be to create a list of short-term goals and set a strict deadline for each. Check in with yourself to make sure you are reaching those goals, and continue to set new ones, with ongoing progress. For example, when runners are preparing for a marathon, beginners start with running just one mile per day. Then 10 miles per day. Each week, progress continues until they are ready to run the entire marathon. Conclusively, a mixture of short-term and long-term planning is the key to success.”- Mohammad Musa, Co-Founder & CEO of Deepen AI