When you’re running your own business, it’s easy for that to become your whole world. Your business is your top priority, and you’d do anything to preserve its health. There’s nothing wrong with that, necessarily—not unless you’re putting the business’ health over your own. Running yourself ragged isn’t actually a good way to operate your company or to juggle your professional priorities. In the end, you’ll be less energized than you would be otherwise; you’ll get sick more often, work with less creative spark, and just generally be lethargic.
You’ve got to take care of yourself if you want to take care of your business—but what does that look like, exactly?
Schedule Time for Yourself
Time management is perhaps the key skillset for entrepreneurs to master. Business owners live and die by their calendars—so if you want to make physical wellbeing a priority, you’ve got to schedule it out. Block out some time each week for exercise, but also for yoga, meditation, or simply for unwinding with a little me time. If you put it on your calendar, then you’ll actually stick with it.
Eat Real Meals
It’s easy to live such a fast-paced life that you essentially live off fast food—or maybe protein bars and energy drinks, which are just as bad. Take time to make yourself real meals with balanced nutrients—including vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, and healthy fats with every meal. You can buy pre-made chicken salads, apples, almond butter, wraps—there are plenty of convenient meals that are not only quick, but nutritious and filling.
Get Some Sleep
Time spent sleeping is not time wasted. Actually, it’s invaluable to you as you seek to recharge your batteries and restart your creative juices. Get eight hours each night, and you’ll more than make up for that “lost” time with your heightened energy levels and improved clarity. Turn off your screens before bed, taper off caffeine after noon, get some physical activity every day, and make sure you have a cool, clean, relaxing environment in which to get your rest.
Move!
Physical activity—preferably daily physical activity—is a non-negotiable. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to join a gym and take up weight lifting, though that’s certainly a good option. Jogging, walking, cycling, rollerblading, yoga—all of these are perfectly good ways to get in some physical activity.
Kill Your Stress
Finally, make sure you have something you can do to manage and mitigate stress, in a healthy way. Stress kills, so you have to kill it first. Journaling, music, exercise—again, it doesn’t matter what you do so long as you do something. Identify what your personal stressors are, and tackle them with a strategy of your choosing.