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DC Fit Week Blog

The DC Fit Week Blog is the place to go to get inspired with fitness tips and stories. If you would like to submit a blog post, you can do that here. We appreciate your help and look forward to partnering with you to make DC/MD/VA a healtier place. 

MIND: Committing and Recommitting to Self-care as a Business Sustaining Practice

Posted on March 2, 2011 in Mental Fitness

by Jess Larsen (@jess_larsen)

A note from Mind Team Leader, Lauree Ostrofsky: Our goal with DC Fit Week is to help you see your mental, physical and financial fitness as integral to all aspects of your life. If you have your own business, or want one, consider taking care of yourself as part of its success.

Self-care is a practice of developing sensitivity and responsiveness to yourself and your own needs. Your self-care is the sum of habits, boundaries, and attitudes that nourish and sustain your personal wellbeing. As a practice, we come back to it over and over, without expectation of mastery. It’s not something that you’ve ever achieved – in self-care, process trumps outcome.

You can bet that a practice of self-care is the only path to building a sustainable, nourishing business. Here’s why:

You are the only person who can care for your business the way it needs to be cared for in order to grow and flourish. When it comes to the heart and soul of your business, only you can do the really important pieces: the creative work, directly serving clients, envisioning where your business will go next.

And you can only do the really important stuff well when you are well cared-for. You are your business’s most valuable asset, and it’s your responsibility to nourish and sustain that asset.

Start by honoring the parts of your work that make you glow.
What parts of your work and life make you come alive? When do you feel strong, like an active author of your own life? Honor and prioritize those pieces, and delegate pieces that make you feel heavy or lethargic.
 
Respect your time by building efficient systems.
Find ways to extract yourself out of routine processes without sacrificing the quality of your work. Use an internet-based scheduler, set official business hours, and keep coming back to systems easily, steadily, and with compassion for yourself. You’ll know what works, because it will feel better right away.
 
The bottom line
The dividing line between where your business ends and where you begin is critical. There must be some distinction between where your revenue generating activities and you, your body, your social life, and your family.

You will never work hard enough to “earn” your self-care. The rotating to-do lists probably won’t go away. So start where you are.

Take just 5 minutes to meet a thirst. Specifically name what feels clunky, oppressive, fuzzy. Then put some breathing room around the idealized version of whatever you are. Practice kindness towards yourself, because as much as you need your business to succeed, your business needs you.

~~

Jess Larsen loves helping other women and creative business owners with the day-to-day busy-ness of business. She re-imagines virtual assistance for her clients with a focus on self-care as a necessary piece of the entrepreneurial lifestyle. Jess is also a birth doula and birth educator in northern New Jersey, adores tiny succulent plants, and has one small tattoo in an undisclosed location.

 

Tags: mental fitness, self care, efficiency, business
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