Three Tips on How to Keep Yourself Healthy to Keep Your Business Thriving
When it comes to running a business, there are plenty of moving pieces that keep it going. You have your employees doing the work, delivering services, creating the product, and keeping it moving like a well-oiled machine. However, there is a pivotal person in the business that ensures smooth operations long-term that most of us forget about. That person is you. Without you, the business just doesn’t really work as well, and that is why you must take care of yourself first and foremost. If you don’t care for yourself, you can become ill from not resting, or simply exhausted! You can find yourself in a mental cloud unable to focus, which leads to frustration and wasted time. How can we run a business successfully if we feel this way, especially in the long term? The answer is simple: we cannot.
Making and finding time in your schedule is absolutely necessary. Whether you are an entrepreneur or working a high-stress job, finding time to care for yourself will actually improve your productivity. An eight-hour job can become a six-hour job, leaving two full hours to recharge or get ahead on work to perform at a higher level. This cycle of peace and clarity will build onto your work-life creating a happier and healthier version of you. If you are somebody who feels as though things keep piling up and you are barely keeping your head above water, it is time to start looking at the bigger picture. How can you help yourself have more mental clarity, a little more productivity, and a little less stress? How can you learn to tread through water easily and actually have a moment to look around and smell the flowers? To find these answers, you must look at your personal health first.
Life’s purpose is not just to survive — but also thrive. You want your business to succeed long-term and for you to succeed long-term! After all, you came before your business, and your business could not function well without you. It is a misconception that we thrive professionally and personally in two separate ways. If you come to work tired and stressed out, you will not perform well. If you work with a clear and refreshed mind, you will be amazed at your own potential to perform so highly. Trust me. If you want to start unlocking the incredible worker you are, read the three tips below on how to keep yourself healthy to keep your business healthy.
Tip #1: Practice awareness. Plan and prepare to take care of your health and well-being.
We all know that caring for yourself is key, but if you don’t plan or prepare on how you’re going to take care of yourself, it’ll probably fall by the wayside. When it comes to your business, do you just fly by the seat of your pants or do you have a strategic plan and vision? Marketing plans? System of operations? All of these things exist in our business, but when it comes to caring for ourselves, we often don’t have a plan. Let’s start creating a plan to care for ourselves. It doesn’t have to take long — maybe 20–30 minutes tops. During this time, we can bring awareness to what id going on in our lives in order to understand how we need to care for ourselves.
In my business, I usually sit down on Friday evening and look ahead at the next week. The last thing I do is check everything going on next week so I know exactly what to prepare for, what appointments I have, and so on.
For my self-care, I like to practice this through a little ritual I have created for myself on Sundays. I will take a look at my work to know what I have going on and what my schedule is. Then I will decide which days I need to go shopping, what I will be buying, and what type of foods I will be eating. It usually isn’t perfect. For example, this week I wrote down meals I wanted to make that I knew how to make easily because I saw that I didn’t have a lot of time. I didn’t include recipes. After I created my little grocery list, I went online and had my groceries delivered to me. It took about 20 minutes to jot down and order, and BAM! I was set with healthy meals. I had plenty of leftovers to eat throughout the week. I knew I could throw these meals together quickly and keep my nutrition on track. I ended up making meat, potatoes, and vegetables — easy, relatively healthy, and delicious!
Since I was able to spend 25 minutes planning ahead, I knew that I had a busy week that consisted of a lot of running around to different events. All I’ve done is made sure that I know what is coming up and preparing for it. Now that I have looked at everything, I can fit something else into my week that I know I want to do, like go to the gym. For instance, I set a goal to go to the gym four times a week. It helps reduce my stress levels immensely so I try to make it a priority for my mental and physical health. However, some weeks are too busy and I won’t reach my goal of four times a week. This is ok! Since I know what lies ahead of me, I can lower that goal to something more realistic, and continue setting myself up for success. When it comes to planning, you want to make sure you can stay on track with your goals to maintain your health and wellbeing, and that includes doing what you can to manage your stress levels.
Tip #2: Have some strategies and form solid habits to anchor you.
In your business, you have things that you need to do every single day to keep it thriving. They are the key points that keep it successful. Now apply this to your personal life. What can you do everyday to improve your health? One thing you can do every single day no matter who you are with, where you are, or what you’re doing, is to eat mindfully. To do this, try to remember to eat slowly and enjoy every bite. Try to stop eating when you are 80% full.
When you eat slowly, it actually helps relieve stress. By taking your time, you will be able to determine when you are 80% full and are less likely to overeat. For example, rather than eating quickly at your desk to get right back to work, take 20 minutes to eat slowly and take a real break. Some people may think taking 20 minutes for lunch is too long, but it can actually increase your productive time. You may eat with another person or sit somewhere other than your desk, and this alone will provide you with more mental space. Taking this short break has a domino effect by giving your mind a rest, helping with digestion, and maximizing the energy and nutrition from your food. If you overeat quickly, you risk having that massive food baby that makes you want to fall asleep three or four hours after lunch, so slow eating and stopping at 80% full is key to keeping your afternoon positively productive!
So, twenty minutes of lunch can help you gain hours of productivity. If you look at it like that, investing in your own personal health is also investing in your business. It doesn’t even have to be the healthiest meal in the world. You can practice mindful eating no matter what, and this awareness will benefit both you and your work.
Tip #3: Reflection. What am I doing great? What can I do better?
This strategy requires no knowledge of nutrition or exercise. All it requires is maybe 5–10 minutes per day to think about what is going on in your life.
This is another thing that I enjoy in my little Sunday ritual. I previously mentioned that I spend about 20–25 planning my meals. Before that, I like to spend about 10 to 15 minutes thinking about my previous week, identifying any roadblocks or triggers that came up and the goals that I accomplished. Then, I use that information to improve my planing for the next week.
For instance, I recall triggers that tell me I am feeling overwhelmed, busy, and crushed with work. Feeling overwhelmed tends to make my health and wellbeing fall by the wayside, so I get stressed out and feel like I am running around in circles to figure out why. Now I know that when I feel that way, it is usually because I have taken on too many things at once and said “yes” to way too many projects. The key here is to know how I am feeling so I don’t have spend time throughout the week trying to figure it out, and knowing what caused it so I can try to fix it.
This is something that I know I struggle with. I have a value system that I can recall on to help me make decisions — if a project doesn’t align with my values, that is an easy “no.” But, if I think the things I hear are cool and exciting, I have a tendency to want to say “yes” to everything without trying to assess how it will fit into my business. This is when I lose focus, run out of time, run around in circles, forget about my health and wellbeing, stop working out, and totally forget my personal health goals. Then, everything gets out of sync and I stop eating healthy foods and start eating quickly at the desk again.
When I reflect, I can understand my feelings and determine where I need to take a step back and think. If I reflect, I can remember to assess projects and validate them and see how they fit into my business before accepting or declining the work. After I complete my assessment, I can say “yes” or “no” very clearly without totally falling off the wagon. Reflecting helps me with planning, and just like that, we are back to tip #1 of our cycle.
This will keep you on track with caring for your own health and wellbeing, AND keep your business focused. It won’t be a tradeoff and you won’t burn yourself out just for the sake of the hustle. You will make clearer, more productive, and more informed decisions.
In summary: First, plan ahead. Don’t worry about last week, reflect on it to keep moving forward. Make a plan and stick to it. Even if it only means working out 10–20 minutes per day or taking a 20-minute break away from your desk. Research shows that getting up from your desk for one to two minutes and walking around every hour makes a massive difference in your health and wellbeing. It gives you mental space, improves your posture, and helps you refocus to make the most of the next 58 minutes.
Second, apply some strategies and habits to anchor you in your daily life. Think about some key things you can implement to improve your health and wellbeing, like eating mindfully. This will give you more mental clarity, proper digestion, more nutrients, and better productivity.
Lastly, reflect on your life to determine what areas are overriding your health and wellbeing. If you reflect on the past, you can make more informed decisions in the future that keep propelling you forward in your business and personal health.
Now you know three different ways to keep yourself healthy to keep your business thriving. The best way to implement these tips is to identify what works for you and stick to it. I absolutely believe in the success of you and your business, and I am looking forward to seeing you thrive. Not just survive.
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