As entrepreneurs, business owners & side hustlers, it’s easy to put our work before anything else. It’s easy to tell ourselves, “I should be working instead of of…fill in the blank. Of course, we want to feel like we’re making progress and grow our business so we work our ass off to cross things off the to-do list each day. That being said, we desperately need to take time for ourselves. I believe you can’t have a healthy business if you aren’t’ healthy yourself.
Some people hear the word “self-care” and associate it with some woo woo yogi stuff where you have to meditate or drink green shakes every morning. If you do that and it works for you, more power to you. But I believe self-care is more than that. It’s making sure your mind and your body are balanced and that you aren’t overworking yourself to the point of burnout.
I’m here to shout from the rooftops that it IS possible to build your business while practicing self-care at the same time. So here are 5 self-care tips for entrepreneurs that you can implement today that can help beat the guilt of taking care of yourself and help you to thrive so your business can thrive too.
1. Shift your mindset
I know it sounds crazy when you say it out loud but honestly, I have actually felt guilty when taking time to take care of myself. My body was telling me to take a break, to rest, to slow down and I felt like a complete failure. The “hustle” is so ingrained in us that we forget the other half of the equation…the “flow”.
Hustling 24/7 isn’t something you should be striving for. Honestly, no one can work all the time. If they can then they need to be studied. Stop thinking of self-care as failing to work on your business. Making sure you take care of yourself is, in my opinion helping your business. I mean most of us started our business to create a life we love where we have freedom and autonomy. What’s the point if we are constantly pushing ourselves to our limits and never enjoying that freedom owning our own business affords us?
2. Take a break from technology
This seems like an obvious one but it can be the hardest. I’ve caught myself watching tv, my laptop on my lap and scrolling through Instagram. That’s three different screens all outputting information and all vying for my attention. I’m sure I’ not the only one who has done this. These days multiple screens at all hours of the day are pretty normal. But this much screen time, especially right before bed, can seriously mess up how we sleep and our energy levels. Try going down to one screen, or even better, turn everything off for a bit and try doing something where you don’t have to be online like reading a book or hanging out with friends.
Going offline for a bit can also help our piece of mind. Social media is a never-ending comparison game and it can seriously mess with your head if you’re on it too much. It warps your perspective and gets you thinking that you aren’t good enough. So even if you can only stand turning off technology for just an hour a day, I promise you’ll notice a difference.
Need a little help? Check out this article about the 10 Best Apps to Keep You Off Your Phone!
3. Spoil yourself everyone in a while
When you’re starting your own business, it’s normal to put all of the money that you make back into the business. That’s totally fine but what’s the point of making money if you can’t enjoy it right? Take time to spoil yourself everyone in a while with that hard-earned cash. Go to your favorite restaurant and order your favorite meal, buy yourself some new clothes, book yourself a spa day. There’s no shame in using the money you’ve earned to do something nice for yourself.
4. Fuel your body well
What you put into your body is so important. Eating well and choosing your drinks carefully can make a huge difference in how you function every day. Treat your body, and what you put into it, with as much care as you give to your business. Try limiting processed food and overly sugary drinks and for god sakes drink some water. Seriously, if you go more than 3 days without water you need to reevaluate some things.
5. Set your routine
Actually creating a routine for your day instead of just winging it can help a lot with decision fatigue and will give you more brainpower to devote to your business. If you have to spend a bunch of time trying to figure out how your day is going to go then you are going to waste energy, time and peace of mind. This by no means that you can be spontaneous but have certain parts of your day that you know are dedicated to certain tasks. For example, try waking up and going to bed around the same time each day. Schedule out a time each day that you want to dedicate to your workout. Set a time that you know you will stop working each day so that you have clear working hours. You don’t have to be overly strict with your routine but it does help create e sense of normalcy and repetition that keeps you from feeling out of sorts all the time.
As I mentioned before, a healthier you means a healthier business. You can’t pour into others if your cup us empty so takes some time each day to truly take care of your mind, body, and spirit. Trust me, you’ll begin to look forward to that part of the day and it will make a huge difference in how you run your business.
For more tips about keeping healthy as a new entrepreneur, check out my posts on How To Combat The Imposter Syndrome and the 5 Most Common Mistakes New Entrepreneurs Make.
