Business leaders often find themselves deeply invested in their organisations' success and growth, focusing on strategic planning, decision-making, and meeting objectives. Such pressures and responsibilities can be time and energy consuming, leaving little room for self-care.
Self-care is often viewed as a temporary fix or a quick solution to alleviate stress or exhaustion, which is seen as a selfish, luxury or an indulgence act that takes away time and energy from work and other responsibilities. However, it is an integral part of overall success, and is intertwined with performance and leadership effectiveness.
7 types of self-care every busy leader shall be mindful of
1. Physical self-care
Just as a car needs regular service and quality fuel for peak performance, your body also requires proper maintenance and nourishment.
Mind and body are interconnected, flawed thinking patterns can affect your body, the state of your body also affects your mental capabilities.
Caring about your body goes beyond getting enough sleep, maintaining a balanced diet, and exercising regularly. It also involves taking care of your senses. Busy leaders are often immersed in a fast-paced and demanding environment that leave them mentally and physically drained. Engaging and nurturing the senses to promote relaxation, rejuvenation, and heightened awareness or scheduling time to turn off all those sensory stimuli to rest and restore the balance of your nervous system is a skill.
2. Emotional self-care
Attending to your emotional well-being is essential for effective leadership. Regardless of the industry, your business is a people business, and people are emotional animals! Understanding and leveraging emotions are critical to your business.
Caring for your emotional self involves practising self-awareness, empathy, and active listening, particularly listening to your emotions when it shows up strong. Having a dialogue with yourself to investigate and discover the root of your emotions helps to build an intimate relationship with your emotions, which is the foundation for empathy, a critical quality for inspiring leaders.
3. Mental self-care
Mental self-care is about caring for your mindset. You can think in many ways that either hamper or strengthen your ability to thrive and flourish as a leader.
You can engage in activities that stimulate and challenge your intellect, or cultivate growth and positive mindset by surrounding yourself with positive influences and resources that nourish your mind, connecting with uplifting communities or networks, seeking out coaches and mentors to help you expand your perspectives, and safeguarding your attention!
4. Spiritual self-care
Spiritual self-care involves nurturing your inner self and finding meaning and purpose. It is a personal journey that connects you with your inner being for strength, guidance, and resilience.
Caring for your spiritual self involves reflecting on your leadership priorities, ensuring decisions align with your values. And most importantly, managing ego! The ego creates separation and conflict, distorting reality. Releasing ego-driven thoughts and attachments helps to transcend the ego and fosters a more profound sense of self, leading to inner peace, harmony, and connection with others and the world around you.
5. Professional self-care
Professional self-care is about being intentional about personal growth, setting boundaries, seeking support, and prioritising overall satisfaction and fulfilment.
It involves establishing habits to keep yourself concurrent, setting clear boundaries between work and personal life, making time for activities that bring you joy and relaxation, setting stretching goals, identifying your energy levels and arranging tasks accordingly. It also means building a supportive network of colleagues, mentors, or coaches who can provide guidance, feedback, and emotional support to foster a sense of connection and professional growth.
6. Social self-care
Social self-care is about nurturing relationships, fostering connections, and engaging in activities that promote belonging.
It involves prioritising meaningful social interactions, fostering genuine communication, and cultivating relationships built on trust, mutual respect, and support, which requires the establishment of healthy boundaries, assertively expressing your needs and limits, and ensuring a balanced and diverse network of relationships. It also entails actively seeking out diverse perspectives and creating an inclusive environment where everyone is treated with respect and valued.
7. Environment self-care
Environmental self-care entails creating and nurturing a living environment that supports the well-being, productivity, and cultivation of a positive culture. It emphasises the significance of designing a physical and psychological space that stimulates motivation, creativity, and a sense of purpose.
You can create an environment that optimally supports your growth, satisfaction, and success by mindfully choosing who and what can get to you. For example, what you watch or read would get into your subconscious; where you put your attention would either lift and expand you or push you deeper into your comfort zone; who you spend time with can either pave your way to failure or provoke your thinking and inspire you to challenge yourself.
Then?
Avoid the self-indulgence trap while practicing self-care!
They may seem similar, but self-care and self-indulgence have distinct differences.
Self-care prioritises intentional actions for well-being, promoting balance and resilience. While self-indulgence involves excessive immediate gratification without considering long-term consequences.
To navigate this distinction, align your actions with long-term goals. Are you seeking genuine well-being and nourishment, or are you merely seeking instant gratification? Cultivate self-awareness to discern your intentions and make adjustments.
Remember, self-care is personal, so find practices that resonate with your needs. Experiment and adapt them to your lifestyle to enhance your well-being, resilience, and effectiveness as a leader.