7 self-care tips for busy business owners

In the midst of nurturing your business, it’s easy to forget to nurture yourself. But this article exists to remind you how important it is. And in fact, when you take care of yourself, you’re able to pour more into your business in a healthy and productive way.

Time and time again, studies and research demonstrate the importance of movement and a balanced diet to optimize our performance as human beings. But too often we look past this and put ourselves last.

Let’s delve into our top 7 self-care tips that you, as a business owner, should think about incorporating into your work and lifestyle

1. Create a workspace you love

This is a simple step with a huge impact. This is where you’ll spend the most time. Be mindful of your setup. Is your space cluttered?

It’s also very important to have enough distinction between your workspace and your personal/relaxation space.

2 . Work from different places to change up your scenery

Every so often, perhaps once per week, we suggest working away from your usual workspace for a change of scenery. If your role or business is very creative based, this simple change of scenery could have a huge impact on your ability to come up with new ideas and concepts. And if your business is very analytical or data-based, a change of scenery can help your mind focus in a different way on repetitive tasks, or those that require a lot of focus.

So where could you work from? It could be a café, a library or if you don’t want to venture too far, even a different room in your house.

Or if your budget allows, why not invest in a pay-as-you-go office space? Since the rise in remote working, flexible office contracts and pay-as-you-go office spaces have increased. Companies like WeWork or IncuHive have locations all around the UK.

3. Embrace networking

Despite our digital world, some good old networking can get you very far. Not only this, but starting and running a business, especially a remote one, can be a rather solitary experience. Often you’ll be completing tasks that only you’re able to do and understand the importance of.

So that’s why connecting with and embracing a network of like-minded people in your field or who also own a business is very important.

We suggest finding Facebook Groups or business networking opportunities in your town and getting involved!

4. Find a hobby

If you ask them, many business owners will tell you their business IS their hobby. A hobby should be something you enjoy, and whilst you might love working on your business every waking moment of your existence, you need a life outside it.

Remember, there are many transferable skills from other aspects of your life that you’ll be able to apply to your business. So if you enjoy photography, writing, blogging, dancing or building, there will be something within your hobby that you can apply to your business also.

5. Learn to say ‘No’

No is not a dirty word! Learning to prioritize efficiently and understand what is and isn’t right for your specific business is essential. Before automatically saying ‘yes’ to everything, practice pausing for a moment, or respond to people saying you’ll think about it and get back to them, rather than over-promising, or agreeing to something that might not be the right pathway for you and your business.

This will give you time to really think through the suggestion, proposal or idea and reflect before deciding what the next steps should?be.

6. Rest before you burnout, not after

Instead of burning out, then resting to recover, make a mental effort to learn about yourself and how you work, and how much you can do before you burnout. It’s more efficient in terms of your time and overall mental health, to take smaller and more frequent breaks away from your work and your business, instead of going through a cycle of giving it everything you have for 2 weeks, then needing time out to recover from burnout and exhaustion.

One way to do this is to schedule non-negotiable breaks or time to exercise. Time for yourself to rest, see friends and live, outside of your business.

7. Create a routine?

A routine shouldn’t be a prison sentence. Of course, exceptions will happen, but the ability to create a routine, divert from it as and when necessary, and then go back to your routine afterward, is a more disciplined and impressive thing to be able to do rather than religiously making yourself stick to a highly strict routine.

And it’s much more efficient than having no routine at all. Ultimately, it’s about trusting yourself to know what to do and when. And that comes with practice and experience.