Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare - Audre Lorde
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. When building an empire, you need to take care of yourself. We often hear about ‘setting boundaries’ at work. How do you do this when you ARE the business? Small business owners are doing multiple jobs at once and some have day jobs, working on their dream on the side.
In my experience owning a business and working with entrepreneurs…here is how it’s done.
Physically Blocking Time - If you are calendar-driven, this means adding breaks into the calendar. Stating and committing to your break. 10 minutes of sitting and doing nothing, taking a stroll, enjoying your coffee or tea without the computer or phone.
Work is never “done” - Once you recognize that the work is never done, it’s kind of freeing. Rather than thinking of it as “too much to do,” consider that it’s YOUR business and you get to choose what you focus on each day.
Build a Team + Ask for Help - It took me a long time to get this one! Your team could be actual co-workers, and it could be your support team outside of work. I have a small group of women (really small, there are 3 of us) and we meet every month to discuss our businesses.
Priority is Singular - I recently read this tweet from Greg McKeown “The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities.” ONE PRIORITY. Can you focus on the most important task for the day or the hour?
Let me know how you take care of your mental health while running your business.