This week we’re going to examine self-care. This is a critical but often overlooked aspect of being an entrepreneur. We’ll begin by tackling self-talk.
Everyone experiences negative self-talk both in their personal lives and their work lives. I have spent way too much time being an expert at it. It’s easy for me to absorb social media trash-talking and insults, because there’s not a person on earth who can trash-talk or insult me any better than I already have. While having a thick skin is a good thing, this type of self-talk is extremely destructive.
Negative self-talk includes those little voices tempting you to get fast-food at lunchtime, or the voice saying you don’t know what you’re doing in your business. Need to exercise more? Those voices likely are tempting you to lie down and watch your favorite show instead. When a client gets testy, that voice is cheering and causing you to doubt yourself.
Instead of giving in to these annoying voices, let’s find ways to eliminate them from your mind. Turning a negative into a positive is always a good exercise in life.
- Do your business research. If you know your target market and see that others are attracting clients, then you KNOW there’s room for one more. Competition is a good thing; it means others are already making money. Make your practice different from the others and people will flock to you, too. Keep in mind that reading the first article in the Google search results isn’t really in-depth research.
- Become your own health advocate. If you’re plagued with eating or health issues, go to the doctor, and request a physical along with bloodwork. If you have confirmed health issues, you can combat your negative self-talk with the concrete knowledge that you MUST make changes in order to live a healthy life. Define why you want to get healthy and live a long life and keep that why foremost in your mind, then passing up the fast food will become easier.
- Plan, plan, plan. “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” said Benjamin Franklin. Take your business planner and make monthly and quarterly goals, then create action steps to reach those goals. Plan your meals so you know exactly what healthy foods to buy and what you’re preparing each night. Knowing you have a food budget and don’t have to make daily trips to the store will save you time, money, and the desire for takeout. If you fail at one of your planning steps, ignore that little voice, get back up and learn the lesson.
- Step away from your computer. Turn your brain off from work. Stop reading social media and news articles. Taking breaks allows you to think objectively about your next business steps. Eliminating negative articles and/or shows lifts the negativity from your body and allows you to think positively about life in general. And when you’re in a positive mood, you’re less likely to suffer from negative self-talk.
- Practice self-care to alleviate stress. Nothing good ever comes from being stressed out. Living in a constant state of stress burdens your whole body and your psyche. To alleviate your daily stress, put your needs first instead of everyone else’s needs. There’s a reason the flight attendant instructs you to put your own mask on first before assisting others. You can’t care for others when you don’t care for yourself. Take some time to meditate quietly, practice yoga poses, journal, listen to a guided meditation, exercise, or take an Epsom salt bath or castor oil pack. Taking care of your body allows you to make confident business decisions, which in turn keeps the negative self-talk at bay.