In addition to running their businesses, startup founders have another important responsibility to take: To stay in tip-top condition throughout the day. They are expected to be in 100 per cent condition all the time; not only for the business that they are running but also to set up an example for their team members. It is also known that a productive day begins with a good morning routine that is able to improve one’s mood and organise their activities.
DailySocial sits down with several Indonesia-based startup founders –Fabelio, Gadjian, e-Fishery– to learn about their go-to productivity hacks. Hopefully, this can serve as a reference for those who are struggling with time management.
The first tip comes from Christian Sutardi, one of the co-founders of Fabelio, who happen to have a unique morning routine. He wakes up after seven hours of quality sleep –without the help of alarm clock. The founder then proceeds to check the company’s performance report from the previous day while enjoying a glass of sugarless iced americano. He also responds to incoming messages according to their priority.
“Then I moved to the living room, have a glass of water, and check the news headlines of the day. Usually, I would read international news on Bloomberg. I start with international politics, COVID-19 updates, the stock market, and any other news that Google recommends. My news preference includes furniture industry, startups, stock market, football, and other sports,” Sutardi elaborates.
Sutardi officially begins his office hour at 8.30 AM. To maintain his productivity, he implements a framework known as “eat the frog first” or to start with the most urgent tasks (the “frogs”). The framework demands users to start with just one of the most pressing task as the first thing to do in the morning. The task does not have to be finished in one go; users are allowed to continue the next day.
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The next tip comes from Afia Fitriati, CEO of Fast8 Group, the company behind the Gadjian, Hadirr, and Benefide platforms. For Fitriati, getting enough sleep is crucial in maintaining productivity. By getting enough sleep, according to her, the brain will be able to take a moment to recuperate after a long day at work. I will also be able to gain clarity in thoughts.
“There will never be enough time for everything, so it is very important for founders, or anyone in the startup ecosystem, to be able to prioritise. If you are doing it wrongly, you risk wasting precious time that you can never get back, doing insignificant activities. So, my advice is to always ask yourself every day: Do the things that I am doing today matter or not?” Fitriati points out.
The last tip comes from Gibran Huzaifah, CEO and Founder of eFishery, who considers himself as a morning person just like the other two founders. He prefers to use the morning to exercise, plan his day, and learn new things.
“The morning hours are the brightest, most exciting time of the day, that is why I always start with activities that make me feel pumped: Exercise, planning the day. The exercise can include a jog around the house or a seven-minute workout. It helps to improve energy and maintain mental health,” he explains.
“Then I spare a slot to learn or read. If I don’t get to read, I’m going to take an online course on Udemy. On Saturdays and Sundays, I like to spare four hours for learning activities like this, in the morning and evening. With this learning slot, whenever there is a new task or role to take, we can hit the ground running because we always spare the time to learn,” he continues.
Huzaifah also believes that every urgent or impactful task need to be done in the morning, such as strategic thinking or planning, followed by an internal update and problem-solving. If there is a key project or metric that he has been delegating, he is going to spend time in the afternoon to work on something meaningful for the project.
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“The other crucial moment happens in the evening after family time, once the children are asleep when I would review the agenda of the day. Which one goes well, which one doesn’t. It usually involves a simple question: What do I need to do to be five to 10 per cent better than now? Especially on Sundays, I have one more sheet to track my time management. It becomes a base for my improvement plan next week,” he continues.
All three sources agree on the importance of time management. For Huzaifah, having a good system will enable founders to manage their mind, energy, and time. This includes building a good daily routine, complemented with constant evaluation.
“A great part of our life is spent doing things related to work. By becoming more productive, we can do more in a much shorter time. This will enable us to allocate more to other parts of our life, maximise our potentials as a human being, and contribute as much as possible,” Huzaifah closes.
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This article was written by Prayogo Ryza in Bahasa Indonesia for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.
Image Credit: Tim Foster on Unsplash
This article was first published on October 26, 2020
The post Founders of Fabelio, Gadjian, and eFishery reveal their top productivity hacks to start the day appeared first on e27.