self care | Beyond Your Side Hustle

Taking Care of Yourself First

We’ve all heard the wisdom from those flight attendants, reminding us in the pre-flight safety instructions to affix our own masks before attempting to help someone else. As entrepreneurs we are serving others, and we aren’t going to serve them well, without adopting an attitude to care for ourselves first over always going, going, going.

Catch Those Z’s

Let’s address sleep first.

Sleep is necessary. It is healthy, and it’s rejuvenating. Sleep spurs creativity, and it improves performance.

What could you possibly bring of value for your business by denying your body its natural recharging activity constantly?

Will there be times that you’re up earlier than normal? Absolutely.

Will there be times when you burn the midnight oil working on something? For sure.

That’s totally normal and frequent for entrepreneurs, especially in the early days of our businesses, but that can’t be something that happens all the time. It just won’t work.

Early in your entrepreneurial journey, you should spend plenty of time on the why, how, and what you plan to do. Warren Buffett is quoted as saying “An idiot with a plan will defeat a genius without one.” So, plan. I know that when you’re still in that 9-5, your time outside the office to work on your dream is limited. You have early mornings, late nights, and weekends to build your dream. You will probably forgo an evening here or there binging on Netflix, while you work on the website or social media plan for your new venture after putting in a full day at the office.

It happens, and it’s okay. It just can’t be all the time.

Recharge Yourself

Take a moment and consider what happens when you put your cell phone through its paces without putting it on the charger. It eventually runs out of battery life, right?

Sure, you can do a partial charge while you’re at your desk for a bit or when you’re in the car or you carry around an external battery pack, but that phone battery usually doesn’t fully charge. A good night’s sleep is like the time your phone spends on the wall charger. You may be able to stave off a complete shutdown with a quick nap or an extra cup of coffee. Eventually, all those partial efforts will catch up and hit you hard, and if they are frequent, you hope it’s not at a time when it will really impact your business.

On Hustleburg, there’s been plenty of discussion about how knowing your why, your reason for doing what you do. That will help energize you, constantly igniting your passion, but that can’t be the only fuel in your tank. You need to care for yourself before you can serve others.

Address Your Well-Being

Obviously, there’s more to overall well-being than simply sleep and energy, and your investment in your well-being should be atop your entrepreneur portfolio. Whether it’s a matter of keeping yourself healthy by eating well and exercising to prevent health issues down the road, ensuring mental sharpness by doing the right things with regard to mindfulness, therapy, or addressing any struggles or issues there, or working to fill your spirit with a rich and full outlook. As Dr. Jenna Elwart noted in Episode 23 of Hustleburg, there are benefits to holistically approaching all the interdependent aspects of what makes up each of us.

When it comes to our physical health, we should be ensuring that we stay physically active through exercise and activities, as well as eating in a way that enriches our bodies. Additionally, a fair amount of time away from work to relax and to be at our most productive when we engage with the work we do.

One thing that can really help stay at peak productivity and separate aspects of life is meditation. Not only does a practice of being mindful help to be more present in the day-to-day, as well as a relaxation time, it helps to have a better accounting of how the body feels. The time spent in such a practice also provides a defined break between “work” and “fun,” building meditation in to serve as the bridge between the two. Without that bridge, both work and fun melt and swirl into each other, and when that happens, we end up not particularly good at either.

You Can’t Hustle All The Time

One of the biggest flexes observed in the entrepreneurial world is that entrepreneurs are constantly “on the grind,” and it’s not sunup to sundown, but LITERALLY at all hours of the day, every day. This includes the time that we are, and should be, sleeping. Too often, we often exalt that behavior and miscategorize it as extreme dedication, and doing so can damage your long-term success and cause you to burn out, rather than sustain.

Consistency Vs. Breaks

A key component of content marketing success is the consistency of your content creation and publication. We talked explicitly about consistency in the podcast Q&A episodes, and how comforting it is for your community to know what to expect and when.

Consistency is valuable, as is being able to unplug from time to time. While they seem to be opposing takes, the key for both is as simple as setting expectations. Much like the preamble to this episode of Hustleburg, you can set expectations when you need to deviate from your established and consistent schedule.

When you can plan your breaks from consistent practice and make known the deviation from the standard you set, you warn your community of an adjustment. Rather than have someone show up to find a closed storefront or office, sharing your planned break from consistency helps ease the shock of taking such a break.

Take the Time Off

Extroverts are energized by their interactions with others. One of the best ways to fill that tank is actually to step away from the “busyness” of work and be present with your friends and family. After all, they are on this journey with you. The most important holidays to you present an opportunity to re-connect with those who don’t get as much of your attention when you’re “on,” as well as recharge yourself with the love and quality time spent with your loved ones, deepening your connection with them.

At the beginning of this episode of Hustleburg, we outlined what to expect with the deviations we’re making during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and this is the reason. It’s a chance to re-energize for the sprint between holidays and then again for the new year. It’s very difficult to be present to spend that quality time with my loved ones if you don’t completely unplug and disengage from work. When you’re a solopreneur, it’s hard to turn work “off,” but not really being present with others is impossible without turning off that switch.

Be Present When You’re There

This brings up the importance of being fully present when you’re physically there. You’ve seen someone preoccupied with their cell phone, rather than engaging with the people and activities around them. Whether at the grocery store, at a traffic light, or with your friends and family, that phone can feel like your mistress to the people around you. Who hasn’t recognized how much time can be wasted by mindlessly scrolling or checking apps for updates?

Obviously, in 2020 we’ve had to re-examine and re-tool our work lives to fit the framework we find ourselves in, and as discussed in the bonus episode released toward the beginning of the pandemic shutdowns, it’s important that we maintain separate “work” time from the rest of our time. One of the best ways to ensure that your relationships don’t crumble is to make sure you are 100% there for your family and friends when you are physically present. For most of us, especially in the connected world we live in, that means putting down your phone, iPad, or laptop and actively engage with the people around us.

Really, just make sure you aren’t sleepwalking through the relationships you have with the most important people in your life as a sacrifice to what you do, especially when we know that each scroll and check of each app isn’t actually productive time spent. Being present with your loved ones also serves as practice for your time spent at work, where it’s pretty darn important to make sure that you are building stronger relationships and connecting to more people.

Hustleburg Episode 42 – Answering Your Self-Care Questions

This episode is a Q&A episode answering questions from you about taking care of yourself while being an entrepreneur working on your business. At the beginning, you’ll get the lowdown on what to expect for episodes of the podcast and our social media presence for the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, as well as find out about our first video episodes.

You can subscribe to YouTube to get them on their early release schedule, starting in December.

It Can’t Be Hustle All The Time

One of the biggest flexes from entrepreneurs is that they are CONSTANTLY “on the grind.” A key component of content marketing success is the consistency of your content creation. Consistency is valuable, as is being able to unplug from time to time. When you can plan your breaks from consistent practice and make known the deviation from the standard, you offer your community an adjustment.

If you’re an extrovert like me, you are energized by your interactions with others. The holidays present an opportunity to re-connect with those who don’t get as much of your attention when you’re “on,” as well as recharge yourself with the love and quality time spent with your loved ones, deepening your connection with them.

We’ve all seen someone preoccupied with their cell phone, rather than engaging with the people around them. Obviously, in 2020 we’ve had to reexamine and retool our work lives to fit the framework we find ourselves in, and as we discussed in the bonus episode released toward the beginning of the pandemic shutdowns, it’s important that we maintain separate “work” time from the rest of our time. Really, it’s about making sure you aren’t sleepwalking through the relationships you have with the most important people in your life as a sacrifice to what you do, especially when that scrolling and app-checking isn’t actually productive time spent.

Taking Proper Care of Yourself

We’ve all heard the sage wisdom from those wise flight attendants, who remind us before every take-off to affix our own mask before attempting to help someone else, and that’s an attitude that many entrepreneurs who are always going, going, going should adopt. First, sleep. Sleep is necessary. It is healthy, and it’s rejuvenating. Sleep spurs creativity. Sleep improves your performance. There cannot possibly be something of value you gain for your business by denying your body its natural recharging activity constantly. Take a moment and imagine if you put your cell phone through its paces without putting it on the charger. You need to serve yourself before you can serve others.

There’s more to your overall well-being than just sleep and energy, and you should be investing in yours to be the most effective at what you do. Dr. Jenna Elwart noted in Episode 23 of this podcast, there is a benefit to taking a holistic approach to work on all the interdependent aspects of what makes up each of us. We should be ensuring that we stay physically active through exercise and activities that enrich our bodies, eat well, and get the right amount of sleep. One thing that really helps me stay at peak productivity and separate aspects of my life is meditation. It serves as a sort of bridge between “work” time and “play” time.

Personally, I find myself far more engaged, effective, and efficient in all that I do and am when I work on the totality of my well-being.

How Can You Do All of That?

I’m sure you’re a busy person, and you’re probably asking yourself (and me, by extension) how you can fit all of that in, when you’re working, building your business, participating in hobbies, and spending time with your family. Stop letting others dictate their action item or to-do list to them and create their own, focusing on what is important to their success. I found one thing that helped me be at my most productive at work, no matter the job, and that was to “batch” my work. Focus on doing one thing at a time. Even brief mental blocks created by shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40 percent of someone’s productive time.

Often, you think that you can manage your time better by taking every single thing you “have to” do and scheduling them. Forget prioritizing your schedule. Schedule your priorities.

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