As a business owner, you give your all to your clients. As happy as this makes you, it can also be stressful for you. How can you prevent yourself from burning out without taking week-long vacations every month? The answer is creating and using a self-care routine.
Using self-care, you can provide yourself with the tools and resources necessary to relax and recharge. Whether your idea of caring for yourself is a good book to read, a spa day, or tickets to a concert by your favorite performer, it's important to realize that you need to take time out for yourself and be a little selfish every once in a while. After all, a pitcher can't pour into others if it is empty.
Strategy #1: Make Time for Self-Care
As a business owner, you stay busy. Even if you weren’t busy with running your business, everyday life (kids, errands, dates with your significant other) will keep you very busy. Your first strategy is to make time for self-care. Some self-care routines do not take long at all. You might spend as little as five minutes pampering yourself. Other types of self-care activities take longer. Schedule time in your week to indulge in longer self-care activities. Don't feel guilty about it, either. You need to take care of yourself to give your best self to others.
If you can't find any time in your week, consider delegating, hiring, or outsourcing some of your responsibilities. This may be a scary step, but it's important to consider your health and happiness, too.
Strategy #2: Start with the Basics
As humans, our bodies need a few basic things for us to stay healthy. These include nutritious food, plenty of water, exercise, and sleep. If you don't know where to start in your self-care journey, start with the basics.
Burgers, tacos, and other fast food choices may be tasty and easy to eat on the go, but they contain low amounts of nutrients and vitamins. They also contain high amounts of salt, MSG, and other chemicals and preservatives that aren’t good for you. Even the 'healthy' versions aren't all that good for you. Consider making your lunch in the morning and taking it to work. Not a morning person? Instead, make an extra helping at dinner to take with you to work the next day or delegate Sunday afternoons for meal prep.
What do you drink? Your body is made of about 55% - 65% water. This water keeps you healthy and regularly needs to be topped off. You lose water through sweating, tears, and elimination. If you find yourself surviving through the day on coffee or soda, it's time to drink more water! Coffee and soda can dehydrate you more. Switch to water with fruit or carbonated water if you can't kick soda.
Depending on your business, you might sit for several hours on end. If you do, it's important to incorporate exercise into your day. Even if you don't think you have the time, there are easy ways to fit in exercise. You can stretch or do yoga in the morning. Just try to fit in ten minutes a day. You should also do 20 minutes of cardio twice a week. Exercise will keep you healthy and fit. It’s also been shown that exercise makes you a better entrepreneur. It's better to fit in at least two hours of exercise a week than to take off for two weeks because you're sick.
If you pull all-nighters several times a month or regularly get less than 6 hours of sleep, it's time to rethink how you handle your time. You should sleep six hours a night, minimum, with more being standard.
Take care of yourself by taking care of your basic needs. Basic self-care should be done no matter what.
Strategy #3: Consider Your Options
Self-care doesn't always make sense. Some people don't understand what they can consider self-care. People fail to realize that many types of self-care exist. Perhaps you like needlework. If that brings you peace, joy, and relaxation, it falls under self-care for you. Maybe your thing is video games or books because you like to shut off reality for a while. That qualifies as self-care. Self-care is what brings you joy and relaxes you to make you a happier, better person. It recharges you and makes you able and willing to pour into others again. Consider your options, get out your calendar, and pencil in some self-care activities.
Want to Make Time for Self-Care? Contact Clients ARM!
Do you need to outsource your business needs such as accounts receivable, customer service, or billing? Look no further! Clients ARM offers these and other great services to free up your time so you can concentrate on caring for yourself, your family, or your business! We have over 30 years of experience and use innovative technology and old-fashioned customer service principles to deliver exemplary service both to you and your clients. If we can help you, don't wait! Contact Clients ARM today for your free, no obligation consultation!
