Your well-being is your business: self-care for entrepreneurs (1)

Entrepreneurship is a long and sometimes quite demanding path. But we are human, although sometimes we are considered to be aliens and we come to believe that we are capable of marvel movie star feats ... we have physical, intellectual and emotional limits. 

With this post we want to give you some guidelines so that you do not exceed them and think a little more about yourself as a person rather than as a workforce of your own business ... and you end up wondering why you decided to undertake. 

Disconnect, breathe, find your time ... take care! That makes your lifestyle healthier and, consequently, that your business also enjoys better health. 

Think about the first thing you do when you open your eyes ... You check your mobile phone, don´t you? This is a big mistake. 

What happens when you quick check the inbox is that you immediately switch to work mode. You may be sitting on the bed, still in pajamas, but your head starts to spin everything that needs to be done and, in some way, to generate restlessness. 

If you do the same thing at night, you will sleep with that anxiety thinking about a thousand details that, objectively, you cannot solve at that moment. 

Set your safety margins with moments for yourself. In the morning, have a quiet breakfast, give yourself time to land. The moment of (first) coffee is for you, not for business. 

At night try to have a screen free time before bedtime. Read, paint or watch a series. Things that relax you and take you away from work. 

Do not get wrong: going to bed late working is not being a more productive entrepreneur. Our body needs its hours to rest, and if it is spared, many risks are triggered. 

First of all, if you do it increases your level of irritability. This is something we have all lived: if we do not sleep well, we become unbearable with others and this has an impact on our social and work life. 

If the lack of sleep persists over time, we can more easily fall into anxiety situations that drag us into compulsive behaviors: eating without limit, smoking, drinking alcohol … 

Also in the long run you can fall into depressions, hair loss or premature aging by not regenerating the skin properly. It is even related as a risk factor in cardiovascular problems and some types of cancer. 

Sleeping is not a waste of time or something that can be ignored: it is one of the bases of self-care. 

And in the middle of the day if possible. Do not fall into the temptation to lock yourself in your office because, when you want to realize it, it will be mid-afternoon and you will not have enjoyed the sunlight. 

Stepping on the street serves to get fresh air, so integrate it into your routines. It is interesting that you do not leave the tasks "out of the shell" for the last hour of the day. Do you have to go to the post office? Do you need to buy supplies of some kind? Then, take advantage and go for a walk. In fact, you can also take the opportunity to make some work calls while walking.    

Walking helps you break out of the routine, you get vitamin D from the sun, you release stress, avoid a sedentary lifestyle … 

One thing leads to the next.  Sedentary lifestyle is devastating for people who work in front of a computer for hours and hours. Back and neck pains, contractures, circulatory problems, tendency to overweight …  

Walking is highly beneficial. And, if we put it together with some of the above points, it is something you can do before you start working in the morning while listening to music as part of that time for yourself. 

If you prefer to go to the gym is another good option, of course. As a suggestion, I would tell you that it is best to sign up with someone and take the opportunity to have some social life. In addition it always less hard when there is someone who spurs you, right? 

There is a middle ground in all this that you might find interesting. There are people who, in order to avoid sedentary life, have chosen to remove the chair from their desk and work at high desks that force them to stand. There are even versions of these work tables that incorporate treadmills to move you on the place. 

Concentration cannot be kept indefinitely: the brain needs its breaks to continue working efficiently. Again, it is important not to confuse working hard with working better. 

I recommend that you incorporate into your work routine a series of active breaks. Every 2 hours stand up from the computer and perform some joint rotation movements and stretching in arms and legs neck. You can also take 5-10 minutes to walk around the block or go up and down stairs. 

Anything that activates your body, while clearing your mind and resting your eyes on the screen, will be more than welcome. 

Another very important thing: vacations are not a luxury, they are necessary. No one - not you, not me, nor anyone in the world - can be at full capacity 24/7 and 365 days a year. 

You need to change of scene and, for a few days, not check your cell phone. The business is not going to sink because you give yourself a break. On the contrary: you will see how that renewed energy makes your business grow. 

These are the 5 basics of self-care together with healthy eating, which is so obvious that it is almost unnecessary to mention it: less fat, more fish, lean meats and vegetables. 

Surely you have identified among the things you do wrong. It is normal: the rhythm at which we move, together with the character traits that entrepreneurs have in common, usually leads us all to fall into them at some point in our professional life.