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TODAY’S IDEA: Taking care of yourself is part of your job
— From: Habit Changers: 81 Game-Changing Mantras to Mindfully Realize Your Goals by M. J. Ryan
M. J. Ryan, leading expert on change and human fulfillment, says that she’s lost count of the number of her high-achieving clients who recognize that self-care is something that they keep putting off. She recalls a specific story of a female executive who said, “I’ve got my life really nailed… The kids are great, my work is going well. The only thing is that I’m not taking very good care of myself. Exercise has gone out the window, I’m eating lots of junk, and my sleep isn’t so great either.”
We all know that we should take care of ourselves, so why do we put it off for a later time that never comes? The reasons are as varied as each individual, and we simply chalk it off to being busy. Ultra busy. And we make work and others’ needs our priorities, while putting ourselves last (usually in the if-there-is-a-25th-hour-in-the-day-category-I’ll-get-to-it…category).
This reminds me of a quote by Deepak Chopra that says, “If you don’t take care of your health today, you will be forced to take care of your illness tomorrow.”
While the quote jolted me the first time I heard it because of its ominous nature, I think there is much truth in it. Yet I prefer Ryan’s response to this problem, “No one ever told you, but taking care of yourself is part of your job. It’s not optional. Because to succeed at work, you need high ongoing mental, emotional, and physical energy to do your best. If you keep ignoring self-care, eventually you’ll perform at a subpar level. […] When you understand that taking care of yourself is really part of your job, you see it as the business priority it is. So make a schedule of self-care and stick to it.”
I love this approach since it’s a very logical way to see and practice self-care. As Ryan further says, this method is designed it to “give high-achieving folks like you permission to take the time to focus on themselves.”
ACTION
TODAY: Do one thing about self-care that you’ve been putting off.
FUTURE: Schedule in your calendar the times that you will use for self-care. Stick to them!
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