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Biohacking for Business: Optimize Your Entrepreneurial Life for Peak Performance

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Biohacking for Business: Optimize Your Entrepreneurial Life for Peak Performance

Cordes Lindow

Friday, March 28, 2025

Biohacking is a term that you hear a lot these days. If you're new to the business world, or even if you've been around for a while, you might be curious about what it actually means. Simply put, **biohacking is the idea that you can make changes to your lifestyle and environment to help your body and mind operate at their absolute best.** Think of it as fine-tuning your internal systems for peak performance. This isn't some futuristic concept reserved for scientists in labs. Biohacking can involve simple adjustments like changing your diet, incorporating specific types of exercise, or even being mindful of your exposure to light. Things like using infrared mats or practicing specific breathing techniques also fall under the umbrella of biohacking.

Why Biohacking Resonates with Entrepreneurs

Among entrepreneurs, biohacking seems to be particularly emphasized. It often appears that the more successful an entrepreneur becomes, the more focused they are on finding ways to "hack" themselves into a perfect life.

Consider the extreme example highlighted in the Netflix documentary, Don't Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever, about wealthy entrepreneur Bryan Johnson. His highly structured and regimented daily routine is hyper-focused on decreasing his biological age. While this might seem extreme, it reflects a broader trend among those driven to achieve.

The Historical Link Between Eccentricity and Optimization in Entrepreneurs

Throughout history, entrepreneurs have often been known for being a bit eccentric. Interestingly, this seems to be connected to their inherent drive to optimize. Think about the story of John Harvey Kellogg, MD the inventor of corn flakes (perhaps you've seen the movie about his Battle Creek wellness center for wealthy individuals. It illustrates how, even in the past, wealthy individuals were willing to subject their bodies to unusual and sometimes bizarre "treatments" in the pursuit of better health and performance.

Part of this modern biohacking movement, in my view, is fundamentally a drive by entrepreneurs for optimization.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset: A Constant Pursuit of Improvement

Entrepreneurs naturally embody a strong sense of control over their lives and their businesses. They are constantly seeking new and innovative techniques to accomplish more in less time and achieve more remarkable results. This stems from the core belief that we can always be doing something to improve ourselves and, consequently, have better lives and more successful businesses.

This very drive for improvement is a significant part of what draws me to working with entrepreneurs.

Contrasting with Other Professions

In many other professions, there can be a tendency to simply do the work that is assigned and not necessarily push the boundaries of the status quo. While there's nothing inherently wrong with this, it's a different mindset compared to the entrepreneur.

Personally, I have found that I have never been satisfied with the status quo. In everything I have done, I have always looked for ways to improve it.

A Personal Example of the Drive to Optimize

For example, back in high school, I had the opportunity to be a camp director. I quickly realized that the information available for running the camp was incredibly disorganized. Recognizing this inefficiency, I took the initiative to systematize the information and create a comprehensive binder for future directors. This was in the days before personal computers and smartphones were commonplace, highlighting a fundamental drive to optimize even with the tools available at the time.

Every position since then, I have continued to research and learn about optimal eating, the ‘best’ software, how to motivate and lead people, etc. I have been driven my whole life to find a ‘better’ way to do things. While this can be an unhealthy obsession when I stay up all night researching ‘the best’ tent for car camping, it keeps me motivated and constantly improving.

Understanding Optimization in the Business Context

So, what exactly do we mean by optimization?

Basically, it's about getting rid of what my old English teacher called ‘dead wood.’ In our lives and especially in our businesses, we often accumulate patterns, tasks, and information that are simply not useful or are actively hindering our progress.

As business owners, these extra tasks and unnecessary information can be significant distractions, pulling us away from the activities that truly make a difference. This "dead wood" can manifest in various ways:

Costly Customers: You might have customers who cost you more time, energy, and resources to serve than the revenue they generate. These are prime candidates for optimization.

Inefficient Systems: It might take you an excessive amount of time to find crucial information because you don't have a system that is optimally designed to help you access what you need, exactly when you need it.

Outdated Processes: You might be clinging to ways of doing things that were once effective but are now slow, cumbersome, and costing you valuable time and money.

The Importance of Balancing Optimization with Humanity

However, it's crucial to remember that while the drive to optimize is powerful, we also need to balance it with maintaining our humanity. We don't want to become some sort of rigid, rule-bound individual who cuts out every perceived inefficiency to the point of becoming isolated or transactional in our interactions.

Relationships are also key to success and fulfillment in business and in life. If our pursuit of optimization leads us to treat people merely as means to an end, we risk damaging those vital connections.

Therefore, we must strive for a balance. This involves:

Margins of Flexibility: Allowing for spontaneity and deviation from strict routines can be crucial for creativity and overall well-being.

Time for Play and Fun: Engaging in activities that bring us joy and have no immediate "purpose" beyond enjoyment is essential for preventing burnout and fostering a positive mindset.

Biohacking Your Business for Peak Capacity and Longevity

However, it's crucial to remember that while the drive to optimize is powerful, we also need to balance it with maintaining our humanity. We don't want to become some sort of rigid, rule-bound individual who cuts out every perceived inefficiency to the point of becoming isolated or transactional in our interactions.

1. Get Crystal Clear on Your Vision and Purpose

One of the most important aspects of finding flow and optimizing your life and business is getting clear on your purpose. For me, my purpose is empowering people to reach their potential. This fundamental understanding acts as a compass, helping me decide which projects, work engagements, and relationships deserve my time and energy.

This clarity of purpose influences many areas of my life:

Volunteering: It's why I volunteer as a leader with Scouting America, an organization dedicated to developing young people.

Content Creation: It's the driving force behind why I write this blog, hoping to share insights and inspire others.

Family: This purpose guides my relationships with my children, shaping how I interact with and support them.

Decision-Making: This vision of my purpose helps me discern what is truly worth pursuing and what might be a distraction.

It's important to recognize that all of us have a unique combination of skills and interests, which means we each have a different purpose. By actively fulfilling our individual purposes, we collectively contribute to society in our own unique and valuable ways. Taking the time to define your purpose is the first crucial step in optimizing your business and life.

2. Leverage the Pareto Principle to Streamline Your Offerings

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. In a business context, this often means that 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your products or services, or 80% of your profits come from 20% of your clients.

To apply this principle for optimization:

Analyze Your Past Performance: Start by looking at your past projects and products. Which ones have the highest profit margins? In other words, which ones require the least amount of your time, money, and effort based on what you can charge for them?

Focus on the High-Return 20%: Use the Pareto Principle to identify the 20% of your offerings that are generating 80% of your desired results (whether that's revenue, profit, or even client satisfaction). Then, strategically lean in on that. Dedicate more resources, time, and energy to these high-performing areas.

Identify the Low-Return 80%: Conversely, examine the 80% of your projects or activities that are not bringing the return you need. What products or services are consistently underperforming? What tasks are consuming significant time without yielding significant results?

Make Strategic Cuts: This might mean discontinuing underperforming products or services, streamlining processes related to less profitable clients, or even delegating or eliminating tasks that don't contribute significantly to your core objectives.

By focusing on the vital few and reducing your investment in the trivial many, you can significantly optimize your business operations and free up resources for more impactful activities.

3. Implement Software to Automate and Visualize Your Data

In today's digital age, there is a wealth of software available to help entrepreneurs automate repetitive tasks, manage information efficiently, and gain clear visibility into their business operations. This is a crucial aspect of business biohacking.

Consider these questions:

Calendar Management: Do you have a clear, centralized digital calendar with all your appointments, deadlines, and tasks? Or are you relying on scattered sticky notes and scraps of paper to keep track of your commitments?

Information Organization: Perhaps you have multiple separate digital calendars, forcing you to constantly switch between them whenever you need to schedule an appointment or check your availability.

Task Management: How do you track your to-do list? Is it a disorganized mental list, or do you have a system that allows you to prioritize, assign, and monitor tasks effectively?

The core idea is to have everything that requires you to spend your valuable time organized and easily accessible in one place. This might involve:

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems: To manage client interactions, track leads, and automate sales processes.

Project Management Software: To plan, organize, and track the progress of projects, improving collaboration and efficiency.

Automation Tools: To automate repetitive tasks like email marketing, social media posting, and data entry, freeing up your time for more strategic activities.

Integrated Calendaring and Scheduling Tools: To streamline appointment booking and ensure all your commitments are in one place.

4. Focus on Marginal Improvements and Consistent Habits

Think about the remarkable success of the British cycling team. Instead of focusing on massive, revolutionary changes, they adopted a strategy of making a series of small, 1% improvements in every aspect of their training and equipment. These seemingly insignificant changes, when compounded over time, led to unprecedented success.

This principle of marginal improvements is highly applicable to biohacking your business:

Sustainability over Radical Change: With small, consistent changes, you are far more likely to stick with the system and see bigger gains over the long term.

Maintainable Shifts: Consider my experience with the Whole30 eating program. While it could be considered an "optimal" way of eating in some respects, its restrictive nature made it unsustainable for me. As soon as the 30 days were over, I reverted to old habits and indulged in everything that had been forbidden. This was not a small, maintainable shift.

The Power of Consistency: On the other hand, incorporating regular yoga, even just 5 minutes per day, has led to a significant improvement in my flexibility over time. Starting with not being able to touch my toes, I can now comfortably place my palms flat on the ground. This demonstrates the power of small, consistent actions.

While not a very flattering picture, the fact that I can put my hands on the floor now represents the power of small, consistent changes. I committed to doing at least 5 minutes of yoga a day and rarely more than 15, and for the first time in my life I gained enough flexibility to put my entire hand on the floor!

Instead of trying to overhaul everything at once, identify small, manageable improvements you can make in your daily routines and business processes. Focus on building consistent habits that support your goals. These incremental changes, over time, will lead to significant and lasting optimization.

5. Be Intentional and Strategic with Your Time

Many times, entrepreneurs struggle to achieve their goals not because they lack the desire or ability, but simply because they haven't effectively allocated their time towards those goals or haven't used their time effectively.

To address this:

Conduct a Time Audit: Take a close look at how you are currently spending your time. Track your activities over a period of a week or two. Be honest with yourself about where your time is actually going.

Analyze for Alignment: Once you have a clear picture of your time allocation, analyze whether your time is being spent on activities that bring you joy and, more importantly, align with your goals. Remember, the point of optimization is to get better at something, and that will require dedicated time.

Prioritize Goal-Oriented Activities: If you want to improve your fitness, how much of your time is actually spent moving your body? If you want to grow your business, how much time are you dedicating to strategic planning, marketing, and sales?

Implement Time Management Techniques: Work on incorporating effective time management strategies such as:

Batching: Grouping similar tasks together to minimize context switching and improve focus. For example, dedicate a specific block of time each day or week to answering emails, making phone calls, or creating content.

Time Blocking: Scheduling specific blocks of time in your calendar for specific tasks and treating those appointments with yourself as non-negotiable.

Prioritization Matrices: Using frameworks like the Eisenhower Matrix (urgent/important) to prioritize tasks effectively.

By becoming more intentional and strategic with how you use your time, you can ensure that you are dedicating your most valuable resource to the activities that will have the biggest impact on your success and well-being.

Ready to Optimize Your Entrepreneurial Journey?

Implementing these biohacking strategies can transform your business and your life, leading to increased productivity, greater fulfillment, and a more sustainable path to success.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the idea of optimizing your business or are unsure where to start, I'm here to help.

Book a discovery call with me today to discuss your specific challenges and explore how we can work together to biohack your business for peak performance!