How Making Time For Self Care Will Bring You Success

Self-care refers to anything that you do to refuel yourself. It is what enables you to take care of your physical, mental and overall well-being. Making time for self-care will bring you success.

You see, self-care stems from the fact that you recognize that your greatest asset is yourself and therefore, you need to take care of you. Stephen Covey refers to this as \”taking time to sharpen the saw\”. The way I like to look at it is  Self-care refers to those activities we do outside of our work which help to bring us success in our work. Maybe it is that extra hour of sleep you give yourself after accomplishing a deadline. Or it is the time you take to go for a much-needed massage during peak season in your business. It may also be an exercise regime which you follow to allow you to remain fit and de-stress.  It does not matter what you do. What matters is that the activity leaves you feeling refreshed and energized.

Below I share how self-care brings you success in your life, work or business all at the same time.

#1. Find A Passion or Hobby

Not only will this give your brain the ability to rest and recharge, but you will be having fun at the same time. Laughter is good for the soul and when you do things that allow you to laugh the results will be positive. I like this quote which says

“Find three hobbies you love: One to make you money. One to keep you in shape and One to be creative”

Having a hobby you actively engage in helps you keep alert. In addition, you are able to interact with other people who can help you gain more success in your work. Take a game of golf or tennis, for example, the more people you meet and engage with on the course or court may mean more customers or better business deals for you.

#2. Self-care Brings You Success If You Work Smarter not Harder

When it comes to working, knowing where to assert the effort makes all the difference. It does not matter how many hours you put in, what should matter are the results you get. Therefore, look for ways to simplify your work. Put in place systems that allow you to work less but see better results. If you have work that is routine, design a template you can use this will ensure you get results in less time.

I am reminded of the quote by Abraham Lincoln “if I had six hours to cut down a tree, I would spend the first four hours sharpening the saw\”. This points to the fact that unless we devise ways of simplifying our work, we will always be working hard and draining ourselves in the process.

Another way you can work smarter and not harder is to ensure you work at improving your skills. There is always new technology and keeping yourself abreast of it will ensure that you are aware of the latest and easiest ways of doing things. Use social media to help you work smarter. If you know someone in your field who is always sharing resources follow them. Get onto their email list these people do the scorching for you and you get to enjoy the results without reinventing the wheel.

#3. Maintain Your Clear Definition of Success

Unless you take time to clearly define for yourself what success means to you, you will always be working at attaining success on other people\’s terms. This can only leave you feeling dilapidated. It is no secret that people who tend to be high achievers also tend to set high standards for themselves. However, if your goal post for what amounts to success is constantly shifting, you will never feel like you have arrived. It does not matter what you do, you will always feel like something is lacking. However, when you begin with the end in mind and paint a clear picture of what success looks like for you, you will find that when you hit your goal you feel satisfied and can relax.

There will always be work to be done, however, as you work, keep your picture of success in mind. When you have clarity about what is of utmost importance to you, it will have an impact on the decisions you make about work.  In addition, as you work you need to aim for success that lasts as opposed to quick success which fades away. You can read more about why you need a definition of success.

#4. Focus on the things that will matter in the end

You need to always keep in mind that the time we have is finite once a day passes you can never get it back. Similarly, every year only has 52 Saturdays. If you keep putting off taking care of yourself to someday this day may never come. In addition, what you think are little children will soon be off to college and start a life of their own. Unless you are intentional about how you use your time, you will have regrets instead of memories. You need to commit to making time for self-care in order for it to bring you success. This you can do by creating boundaries about your work or business. Let your supervisors and colleagues or people you interact with in business know you work at work and take time off at home.

If you are leading a team, lead by example. Once your workmates see you taking self-care seriously they are bound to follow suit. At the end of the day if you are not in good health you will not be able to enjoy the benefits of your work or business.

Finally,

It is imperative that you always keep in mind that self-care is not something you indulge in. Instead, it is something that is essential for your well being. You need to make time for things like sleep, proper diet, and nutrition, recreation, exercise, spending time with friends and family as well as nourishing your spirit and soul. When you constantly do this, you will not only feel energized but you will also see that indeed self-care brings success in your work and business. Please check out this post with 5 Ways you can practice self-care this week.

I would love to know what are your ways of engaging in self-care? Please share in the comments section.