Your Business Can Only Be as Healthy as You Are!

A great challenge of career-driven, ambitious women is to not let work take over life. I’ve been there. In fact, I’ve been there lately… The truth is that it is difficult sometimes to walk your talk.

Maybe, like me, you love what you do and you are ambitious. What a blessing! After all, we spend most of our lives working. Most of my clients struggle to keep their professional and family demands align with their self-care. They want to be the best and they easily lose perspective of how important career really is, or when that healthy passion for work becomes health detrimental.
So I thought I would give myself a gentle reminder. Perhaps it will ring a bell? Your business — or that great job you pour your life into — can only be as healthy as you are. For a while — a month, a year, five years — you might get away with abusing your body, but eventually it will catch up with you. And you will be — well — spent.

It’s easy to play “super hero” when you are in the flow of work. During the day, you might rarely pick up on your body’s needs. How many hours have you been in front of that computer? When was the last time you took a sip of water? Is there tension around your shoulders? Do you have a headache that you are too busy to attend to? Hey, I’m just talking from experience here. How much work is enough?

To my good fortune, I have an extremely sensitive body that won’t let me go too far down this road before it starts to break down. I must rest properly, eat properly and move properly if I want to perform properly. Most of the women I work with are much more… resilient. It can take years before they are pushed to listen to their bodies’ cries for self-care.

I know that as you read this, it totally makes sense, but what are you doing about it? I’m going to say it again: Your job can only be as healthy as you are. It is not luxury, or a matter of health alone. Your lack of self-nourishment will — if it is not already — negatively affect your bottom line.

Here are four signs that your work or business is taking over your life….

1. You skip breakfast or just eat a little something to get it done with.
I mean, how many times will you have to listen to this before it actually registers for you? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and you must pay attention to what you eat and how you eat it! In my experience with clients I’ve found that the quick coffee-plus-baked-good fix that so many are used to is nearly as inappropriate as not having anything.

Try a different breakfast every day for a week and pay close attention to how you feel. You might find a few power foods that actually help you be more productive!

2. You spend all your time in front of the computer.
When was the last time you left that chair? God, have you been meaning to go pee for 20 min now, but you are too “busy” to do it? Close your eyes and focus your attention on your shoulders and neck. Are they tight? Do they hurt?

Have you ever paid attention to your natural rhythm? We all have one. Observe your body and your mind. Do you know when during the day you are more productive? For some it’s really early in the day, for some others late at night. You will get much more done if you work with your natural rhythm and not against it.

Many times I catch myself making believe I’m working, but really I’m just rumbling around. I know that my attention spans are about 50 min. long, so I know I get more done if I take a 10 min. break every hour. I stop, step away from the computer, close my eyes and take a deep breath, stretch my neck and shoulders gently, and drink some water.

Try paying attention to your natural rhythm and take breaks accordingly. It will help you release tension that otherwise accumulates and makes you tight and headachy at the end of the day. Incidentally, this will help you deal with your sugar — and/or alcohol — cravings too because the less tension that accumulates in your body, the less you’ll need these to balance yourself out.

3. You eat lunch in front of the computer.
This, I’ve learned, is a very difficult habit to break! I’ve heard all kinds of reasons why it’s impossible to stop in the middle of the day for such an “inconvenience”. Well… what if you did some kind of work that could not be done as you eat? Like… construction work?

The truth is that we get used to everything and if you decided to stop for lunch, probably not a whole lot would happen — other than dropping a few pounds and having a more productive afternoon. It’s difficult to take a stand when there’s peer pressure — in case you don’t work for yourself — but hey, between having a healthy employee that respects her own boundaries and is very productive and one that needs to take sick days often, which one do you think your boss would prefer?

I’ve counseled a handful of clients through this transition and, as far as I know, none of them has lost her job because of loving herself more.

4. You don’t get physical activity
Humans are meant to move. That’s why we have two legs and two arms! A few people are obsessed with exercise (which is not healthy either), but most have yet to realize the profound impact that appropriate physical activity has in their body. Physical activity is a vehicle for transformation. It’s the first thing I hold clients accountable for when they are struggling professionally, when they have lost their job or are transitioning in business.

Physical activity is the — quite literal — sign that you are moving forward. It renews your energy and oxygenates your brain. Most of my good ideas come when I’m exercising (or cooking). There’s simply no valid excuse for not having some physical activity in your life. You don’t have to go to the gym and indeed, many people would be better off if they didn’t go. It can be as simple as taking a longer walk, using the stairs instead of the elevator, caring for a garden, dancing to a favorite song at home, working out with a DVD, or pushing a stroller.

As you become aware of your own deprivations, just take a little step in the direction of your self-care. It will help you endure your professional challenges better and accomplish those important goals with more joy and less effort. Allow yourself to live a richer life :).