Growing a business as an entrepreneur can be an exciting process. Not only are you in charge of your own independence, you are also on a journey of self-realisation. But being self-employed is not always a bed of roses. You have to work long hours, experience countless number of sleepless nights, as you juggle between work and personal life. All of this can have an adverse effect on your health.
When you are facing a tough business decision that could make or break your business – like whether you should hire a professional business development team (like the ones Fortress Bio did) to get analytics done to take your business to new heights or even prepare to talk to a potential investor – it becomes important that you are at the peak of your health. Handling a business does not necessarily mean not taking care of your health even if it is the last thing on your mind.
Why self-care is important for self-employed individuals
As an entrepreneur, the success of your business lies squarely on your shoulders. This is why you have to always work on your business, at least until the business becomes somewhat stable.
When you fall sick and miss work, your business suffers, and this can delay your chances of success. The competition can swoop in to take away your customers so that when you return, you are forced to start from scratch. This is why it is very important that you find time to take care of yourself.
Self-care is not only important to the success of your business, it is also vital to your mental health as studies have revealed a strong link between depression and stress, as well as a number of other health complications.
Now that you know how important self-care is to the success of your business, what can you do to incorporate it into your life?
Make your health a priority
As a self-employed individual, you don’t have supervisors or employers who will worry about your health affecting productivity. This mean you alone are responsible for seeing that you remain healthy. It is therefore important that you make your health a priority, in fact, over your business, because you can only run a business when you are healthy.
There are many things you can do to invest in your health, and one of them is by investing in private health insurance. Private health insurance helps you share the cost of medical bills when you when you fall sick and are unable to work, so that you don’t have to put the finances of your growing business under pressure.
Create a routine and keep to it
Self-employed people tend to work at all hours of the day in an effort to keep their business afloat. While this may appear to make sense, long and irregular working hours can affect your health, and result in burnout. When this happens, the business you are trying to build suffers.
As much as possible, create a standard working timetable and stick to it. If you feel the regular 9 to 5 is too small for your business goals, you can extend it by a few hours, but always leave enough time to rest and recharge.
Make time out of your busy schedule to eat and exercise
It is easy to forgo meals when you are overextended, but this can lead to a series of health complications that may cause a breakdown. Your body needs nutrients and it is your responsibility to see that it gets them.
In the same vein, you need to make out time to exercise, even if you are busy. This is especially important for self-employed people who work constantly in a sedentary position. No matter how busy you are, make it a part of your daily routine. If it is totally impossible to exercise during work, consider walking to and from work, instead of driving or taking a taxi.
Infographic created by More Fit Everyday (MFIT) – makers of energizing pre workout