Being a business owner is taxing work. But it is even more amplified when you are doing the business as a side hustle until you get it off the ground. There are a series of missteps that people take, but for the sake of time, I am going to only focus on the True Costs of being a workaholic. Yes, that is what it really is.

You are hustling hard to get it all done. You are creating 4 websites, 10 sales funnels, email campaigns to attract new clients, writing an eBook a quarter, designing a new specialty, taking sales calls, doing your work, AND keeping yourself ON for your full time gig. You are pulling way north of 90 to 100 hours a week. And it’s taking a toll on your body.

Physiologically, there are a half million things going on at the cellular level when you mess with your sleep schedule, but here I am only looking at the three obvious issues and ways you can overcome them.

Sleep Deprivation

Science says the human body needs, on average, eight hours of sleep every night. A recent study suggests you should strive to experience amazing sleep at least 80% of the time. But let’s face it, you aren’t anywhere near that. Sleep is the last thing on your mind when you are trying to get paid. Here are a few things you can do to level out the sleep issue.

Implementing these three actions in your day will help you slow down in the evening and get good rest. This is huge for helping to control:

Stress and Anxiety

What is the true cost of Stress and Anxiety? It starts when you are staring at your ceiling in the middle of the night worried that you aren’t going to get paid from a client. This makes it impossible to relax. Then there is the threat of litigation from every angle. Then the worry that your sales funnels are not robust enough, or your training course isn’t really worth it’s price, or that no one can find you on the internet. When you work too much, and you can’t sleep, your mind thinks awful things - and they become your reality. The keys to not falling into the spiral of despair are: (caveat - this list is not exhaustive. These are merely things to implement)

These may seem easy, but they are really hard to put in play. You will reduce stress fastest by getting your money under control. Then work to quiet the mind. Controlling these two will give you the confidence to focus on increasing your True Hourly Rate.

Health Issues

Any idea what happens if you expose yourself to long term stress, anxiety, and sleep deprivation? You get sick. How often have you heard of the business owner that gains weight, neglects going to the doctor, doesn’t make time for working out, and ends up having a heart attack? I wish it didn’t happen as often as it does, but here we are. There are thousands of ways to control the health issues, but here are three:

Put these in play right away and you will have more energy than you have right now. You will not require a gallon of coffee to get through the 9:00 meetings, and your focus will improve.

In short, here are nine things you can do today that will help you regain control of your life. Take note of where you are on your health journey. Are you sleeping on a schedule? Are you eating good food? Exercising? Drinking lots of good, clean water? By giving yourself the tools to improve your energy, you give yourself the key elements to raising your True Hourly Rate: health, energy, focus, and drive. Combine these with your desire to get ahead and you can’t help but to succeed.

Have an awesome and power-filled week!