As cliché as it might sound, you are your most important asset in your business. Without you at the helm (present and healthy), your business is probably not going to get very far. So, it is important to take care of yourself, as much as you would take care of an important client of your business.
Taking care of yourself comes down to having a solid work-life balance. What does that mean? Work-life balance does not mean spending 50% of your time working and 50% of your time living life. But it does mean paying attention to how and where you are putting your energy, and making good decisions based on your values and dreams.
One way to view your life is to see it from the perspective of the following activity sets, and then, for each set, rating your level of engagement and level of importance or priority to you:
- Work/Career/Business
- Family
- Love/Romantic Relationship
- Friends
- Relaxation/Rest
- Fun/Entertainment
- Health and Wellness: Physical, Mental, Emotional, and/or Spiritual
- Physical Work Environment
- Physical Home Environment
The list above, alone, points out that there is much more to life than working. In fact, you have a lot to juggle. How do you think you are doing with the juggling? What is going well? What are you sacrificing? What are the benefits? What are the costs?
Try this exercise: On a scale of 1-10 (1=low; 10=high), rate your level of engagement and the level of importance you give each of the following sets of activities:
- Engagement = How engaged are you in the activities associated with each set? For example, are you fully engaged in the activities associated with your family or are you watching them from the sidelines?
- Importance = How important is this activity set to you? For example, if you live alone, your Family activities may have an importance of 1 (low importance), but your Friends activities may have an importance of 8 or 9 (high importance).
If your Engagement rating was 5 or below AND your Importance rating was a 6 or higher, you have an opportunity to create a better business-life balance.
Ask yourself, what is one activity you would like to engage in more?
Now, what is one action you will take to increase your engagement? For example, if the activity is Health and Wellness, you could 1) Exercise 30 min each day 2) Prepare heart-healthy meals.
Taking some time to take care of yourself will return dividends by allowing you to be more productive and focus on your business.
