You recognize that self-care is essential to keep yourself happy, in good health, and in great condition to accomplish your tasks and achieve your goals. But you’re a busy professional who has tons of responsibilities and tight deadlines. You have numerous meetings to attend to, clients to take care of, and even friends to entertain every once in a while. You might even have a family to take care of after a busy day at work. How else can you insert self-care into your hectic life?
The good news is, even if you’re working more hours than required and you got many people to tend to, you can make simple adjustments to give yourself more time to better care for yourself. Here’s how.
Ask Yourself What You Want to Achieve
If you tell yourself you will start sleeping earlier to get eight hours of sleep each day, you could stay up late for numerous reasons. This could be damaging your health and affecting your productivity at work. Knowing the reasons behind you wanting to finally address self-care will make it easier for you to keep yourself motivated and keep your eye on your goal.
For instance, you are beginning to show signs of hair loss. It is not enough that you do a quick search to find out exactly how hair grows and what you can do to address your current dilemma. You will also need to ask yourself why you want to address the issue and how self-care can help.
Stop Procrastinating
Wonder why most people fail to meet their deadlines, have no time for adequate rest and sleep, let alone eat a decent, uninterrupted meal each day? It’s because we love to procrastinate and waste time on things that won’t help maximize our time each day.
- Even the most successful people in the world are guilty of procrastinating. The less you procrastinate, the more productive you get, and the more extra time you have to spare for self-care. Here are three hacks to stop procrastinating.
- Need some work done? Choose a coffee shop and bring along your fully charged laptop. Leave your charger, and you will be forced to finish your work before your battery dies.
- Say hello to the Pomodoro technique. Download a Pomodoro app, work within 25 minutes, and take a five-minute break when the timer runs out. Repeat until you’re done.
Stop multitasking. According to studies, multitasking is bad for your brain. You will only end up being less productive if you keep on trying to multitask everything.
Treat Self-Care Routine as a Work Meeting
Many take self-care for granted even if they know they deserve this because they don’t treat this as a priority. Most professionals treat their work as one of their top priorities and their family, friends, etc. Others were able to make self-care work because they already made it a priority.
Treating your target self-care routine as an activity required for work will force you actually to commit. For instance, you can think of a gym workout with friends like golfing with your boss or your healthy weekend brunch with family dinner with potential clients. You will find it easier to eat healthily and exercise regularly with this kind of mindset.
Regularly Invest in Things You Actually Enjoy
What are the things you love doing but have no time to tackle because of work, housework, childcare, etc.? If you actually commit time and invest your precious resources in the things you love, you will have something to look forward to, no matter how busy or tired you might be. You will make time to accommodate your passion, hobbies, and new interest, even if it meant waking up a bit earlier to get things done and tuck it in between your schedule.
Ask for Help
Many professionals are so afraid to ask for help, thinking they can do it all. This, in turn, leads to higher levels of stress and making them prone to burn out. Know that you deserve assistance when you need it, and there is no shame in asking favors, especially from your loved ones who are very much willing to help.
Don’t feel guilty for needing to rest, taking some time off without distraction, and wanting some me-time. Don’t want to bother a loved one about babysitting the kids, watching over your dog, or asking your spouse to clean the house for you? You can always hire a pro to tackle these tasks to give yourself more time to better care for yourself.
You might have a lot to take care of, and responsibilities keep on piling up your plate. But remember that even a few minutes of self-care makes a big difference in how much more you can do and give. Make time to practice self-care, and you will have more energy to spare and more love to share with your loved ones.
