Business owners and Professionals lead very busy lives and wear many hats. Most times they’re busy taking care of day-to-day activities in their business, as well as other responsibilities.
Finding time to invest in self-care can be challenging, especially when you live a very busy life. When your days are spent bouncing between work, family and social commitments, there can be little time left to catch your breath, let alone take time for self-care. This is why it cannot be left to chance. It has to be scheduled into your life.
Contents:
What is Self-Care?
Self-care refers to any activity that we engage in to maintain and nourish our health, including mental, physical, and emotional well-being. While it may seem like an obvious concept, self-care often gets cast aside for more pressing priorities such as work, family, and the everyday pressures of life.
In this article, we are going to discuss two very important areas:
- Why female business owners and professionals should prioritize self-care, despite living a very busy life.
- Four self-care tips for busy female business owners and professionals.
5 Reasons Female Business Owners and Professionals Should Prioritize Self-Care
1. Increases quality of life
The ultimate benefit of self-care is that your quality of life improves. You become healthier, have better relationships with family, peers, your network, and your customers. You are more present and less distracted, which also contributes to greater awareness of yourself and how your actions impact those around you.
2. Improves your mood
The ultimate benefit of self-care is that your quality of life improves. You become healthier, have better relationships with family, peers, your network, and your customers. You are more present and less distracted, which also contributes to greater awareness of yourself and how your actions impact those around you.
3. Improved relationships
Self-care helps you to be the best person you can be, which in turn has a positive impact on your relationships. Taking regular time to invest in your personal health allows you to be happier and more stable as an individual. Feeling more relaxed with less tension allows you to be more patient and accommodating with others and therefore have better relationships.
4. Decreases risk of burnout
We all lead busy lives and regular investment in 
self-care is necessary to avoid burnout. Find a form of self-care that works for you, whether that’s taking a walk, spending time with family or getting a massage. It may be simply spending time listening to or reading a book, listening to your favorite music, or spend time in your garden.
Commit to engaging in some type of activity—for yourself-- regularly. It will help you manage stress and prevent burnout.
Taking just a small amount of time to nourish yourself, which helps to maintain your health, will result in better performance in all aspects of your life: your business, work, family and even recreation with family and friends.
5. Makes you become more present
Spending time managing yourself allows you to become more present and engaged with your surroundings. You are likely to have a better understanding of what it takes to maintain your mental, physical, and emotional health, thus resulting in you having a greater focus on your mood. You will also have greater awareness of the triggers which have the potential to impact you negatively.
Self-Care Tips
4 Self-Care Tips for Female Business Owners and Professionals:
I. Establish a morning routine
Start your day with simple things that you can easily make a habit. This way it becomes easier for you to maintain your physical and mental health.
Your morning routine might include prayer and meditation, journaling, daily exercise, and eating a healthy breakfast.
Decide what works for you and implement it daily. Over time, this routine will become a habit, helping you to take some time for self-care at the start of every day.
Remember, it has to be a routine that works with your schedule. If you’re not able to do everything first thing in the morning, decide when, and set aside that time. Treat it as if it’s a special time…because it is.
II. Schedule Time Off
It can be easy to find yourself in a cycle of continuous activity, moving from one activity to the next until it seems you are just going through the motions. Make sure you don’t get lost in the chaos by scheduling some time off. It might be an afternoon away from your normal routine, or something more extravagant like a weekend away or vacation. Whatever you choose, taking a break will allow you to relax and rejuvenate.
III. Get Enough Sleep
Research by the Harvard Business Review, revealed that 43% of business leaders do not get enough sleep at least four nights a week.
It can be easy to prioritize other commitments over sleep, but the amount of sleep you get has a direct correlation to your mental and physical well-being. Getting good quality sleep allows your body to heal and be re-invigorated, helping you to perform in all areas of your life. It can also be hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle without proper sleep as we tend to make bad diet choices and avoid exercise when we are sleep deprived. Sleep is critical for physical and mental health, which is why it should be made a priority regardless of how busy you are.
IV. Set Realistic Goals
Manage your mental health by setting realistic goals. There’s no point in committing to something that is impossible for you to achieve or will put so much pressure on you that you feel like a failure if you don’t achieve it. Spend some time considering your aspirations and make goals that are challenging and make you stretch but are possible for you to reach. You also need to set realistic goals when it comes to your self-care commitments. Add things to your routine that will work long-term with your lifestyle.
Conclusion
Self-care is often confused with self-indulgence. They are two distinct things. Self-care has a much broader impact as it affects not only the business owner or professional, but also those with whom you interact on a daily basis.
People who invest in self-care are more likely to be healthier, both physically and mentally, and are therefore better at managing the challenges in running a business and handling the rest of their lives. They also perform better at work since they’re likely to be more focused, more emotionally stable and form stronger, more positive relationships.
Do you have a self-care routine? How has implementing this routine impacted your life? Please comment below or email me your results. I’m truly interested in hearing what’s working for you.
4 replies to "Self-Care for Busy Female Business Owners and Professionals"
This is a very helpful blog post. I have a morning exercise routine, but I had never really considered time off. That is something that I will definitely work on.
Sharon, it makes me happy to know that this post has inspired you to take another look at your self-care routine. I would love to hear what changes you make to your routine, and if the difference is significant in how you feel.
Thank you for reading.
I use a self care statement in every situation I find myself in. “Will doing this disturb my peace” if the answer is “yes” then I don’t do whatever I was considering doing.
This means family gatherings or lunch with a friend among many examples I could showcase. This may be helpful for you to use as your measuring tool.
Hi Shane,
Thank you for your comments and suggestions. Asking oneself that important question can be a determining factor and great measuring tool in making decisions.