Want Business Success? Stop neglecting yourself

By Susan Martin

Burn-out is common in business owners, executives or anyone who works for themselves. One of the best ways to avoid burn-out is to make sure you're taking care of yourself on a regular basis.

If you're like many business owners, you put the demands of the business first; so taking care of yourself may be one of the very last things you think about doing - until it's too late.

For those of you who are guilty of ignoring yourselves here are some gentle reminders of things you can do:

Physical: Exercise, take walks outside and in nature, long baths, get a massage or pamper yourself in healthy ways, say no to junk and fatty foods, and get sufficient sleep and rest.

Emotional: Spend time alone with your thoughts; eliminate things that you are tolerating which drain energy. Spend time nurturing healthy relationships, set boundaries, rules and limits for your personal and professional lives, let go of habits and patterns that are holding you back, and get the support we all need from friends, family, co-workers or professionals whenever necessary.

Professional: learn how to take control of your finances and career, put limits on the hours you work, set and achieve professional goals, find work that is meaningful and fulfilling.

Spiritual: you don't have to practice an organized religion to take care of your spiritual side. Some ways taking care of ourselves spiritually are meditating, doing yoga, visualizing, or participating in meaningful activities that speak to your values and passions.

So how do you begin?

1. Ask yourself some questions:
           - What does taking care of myself mean to me?
           - How would my life change if I did?

2. Jot down ten things you can do to start taking especially good care of yourself.

3. Prioritize - select the 3 that are most appealing to you.

4. Get back in the habit of taking care of yourself by scheduling time each day to do it. Hint: if you have a hard time getting started, limit your "sessions" to just a few minutes - you may find that’s enough to start feeling better-and once you do you will naturally want to do more.

5. Team up with a friend - do things together, help each other to be accountable and stay on track.

6. Keep building: additional time, sessions, and ways to take better care of yourself.

7. Enjoy! Let yourself relax and have fun. You'll come back to your work refreshed with a clearer mind.

Need help taking care of yourself? Set up your free business and work life balance coaching consultation.

Susan Martin, professional business coach, based in NYC, created Business Sanity to help business owners and independent professionals who struggle with marketing, management and productivity; want to increase profits, avoid burnout and run their business most effectively. To find out how you can make more money with less effort and stress; visit Susan on the web and subscribe to Business Sanity Tips or schedule your free consultation.