Being Young, Frugal and Healthy

By: Michael Dunlop     Topics: Blog,Young Entrepreneurs

I make more money online because I am productive

On Wednesday I posted that I had a Carl Ocab review to give away, the winner is Henry, today I have a Jonathan Volk review to give away, just comment to enter.

Today I want to share with you the steps I took to being more productive, healthy and to earn a lot more money!

Developing a Routine:

When I dropped out of collage I wasn’t very productive, I would wake up late around 11am, hang around the house for a couple hours and then finally attempt to get some work done, it just wasn’t working out! I would end up staying out late every night and play computer games telling myself I will work hard tomorrow to make up for it. I am sure a lot of you are reading this and are thinking to yourself, THIS IS ME!

In the last few months I decided to change this, I now get up early and keep to a routine. Its taking time to adjust but I am nearly there.

7.30:		Take the dog for a walk along the beach
		Shower and get dressed
9.00:		Cook and eat breakfast
9.30:		Check emails and RSS Feeds
10.00:		Blog Post for WebMakeMoney
		Add a interview to R21 and blog about it
		Blog post on Webdesigndev
		Email Newsletter readers announcing new interview
12.30:		Cycle up to the village stores to get a sandwich made
2.00:		Work on new website ideas
3.00:		Clear emails and proper ideas for tomorrows work
3.30:		Networking with other entrepreneurs

Having a routine allows me to be more productive and get more done. You can see I only get around 4 hours of work done a day but it is intense and I get more done then I would working 8 hours in my unproductive life style. The reason I take my dog for a walk first thing is that it allows me to think out my dad and come up with ideas to better my business and life. You may be thinking but why do I have to get up early, couldn’t I start this at 11.30 and finish at 7.30, my honest opinion is “the early bird catches the worm”. Although this doesn’t apply so much to the internet, I still find I am more open to opportunities online because of getting up earlier and mixing with Australian’s in the morning and Americans in the afternoon.
Eating Better as a Young Entrepreneur

Before I started my routine I was eating a full English breakfast every morning, snacking on chocolate all day (its so easy!) and ending up eating a kebab later on in the evening. I would also not drink enough, aspecialy when I went out in the evening with friends and would end up feeling like I had the mother of all hang overs in the morning when I haven’t even had a drop of alcohol. Since starting my new eating routine I find I don’t snack at all and it fills me up, I feel more energetic and sleep better.

Breakfast: Porridge (oats) and fruit.

Since eating breakfast before starting work I have found myself to be so much more productive and it feels me up till lunch. If you are struggling to come up with a great breakfast, Leo from Zenhabits has a great guide.

Lunch: Turkey and salad sandwich on granary bread

Dinner: Usually chicken, vegetables and potato’s but changes regularly to keep it interesting, such as Roast chicken, chicken casserole and breaded chicken. I also don’t say no to a fresh home made soup!

You are probably thinking that these meals sound boring and “healthy”, well they are definitely healthy and I enjoy them a lot! Since eating well, I have felt a lot more energetic and full of life.

Being Frugal Young Can Mean Success

Being young we spend a lot more money then we need to and waste a lot more money. In business we need all the money we can get to invest in our business ideas, here’s my tips for saving more money.

– Eat before you go out: I was going out every night and would usually not eat before so would end out spending $10 – $15 a night on take aways, that’s around $60 a week! This was quite easy to cut out, I now spend $15 a week at most on eating out at take aways.

– Only withdraw the money you need: Before I would go out at night I would withdraw money I thought I needed for the week, before I had the money there in my wallet I spent it there and then. I now only take money out when I need to and only the amount I need. Typically this can save me around $50 a week.

– Don’t go over drawn: I once went over drawn on one of my bank accounts and the bank charged me $50 because of it, I now keep a $500 buffer in the account to make sure It doesn’t happen again.

– Alcohol and Smoking: I don’t drink nor do I smoke but I did use to drink a lot, like most young people. Typically it was costing me around $150 a week in the summer and so I made the decision not to drink anymore, since then I have been 100x more productive and much more well off mental and in my bank account.

If you are already in debt and want to get out of debt, you may find this article helpful

If you have any suggestions how I can improve my healthy and on how to be productive, let me know!