Heart and Business - May 2016 - Santa Fe

3 Keys to Keeping Self-Care Front and Center

By Heather Robertson

 

My passion for Heart and Business is continuous with pathways, methods, and tools that deliver you to a place of clarity and strategy with heart interwoven throughout all of it. Caring for yourself and your career are intimately tied together and nothing short of journey offering lessons along the way.

 

Self-care is an easy thing to put on the back burner. Distractions and every-day tasks can easily interrupt your much needed you-time. Good quality self-care requires discipline, focus, commitment, stamina, and follow-through in order to be effective and impactful in your life and, ultimately, in the lives of others.

 

I define self care as a personal experience of respect and love for yourself.  Again, self-care is a deeply personal experience of respect and love for yourself.  I'm interested in offering you timeless, self-reliant, quality approaches to self-care and ensuring all efforts remain simple, real, and relevant within our lives.

 

The truth is, we tend to resist the urges that will make us feel good - really good - like the kind of good that is long-lasting, not temporary.  We want to have less stress; however, if we let go long enough to experience relaxation, the concern sets in about letting go.  It's all a practice.  And self-care requires practice to see any progress.

 

Holding back what is best for us can become natural.  Our bodies communicate to us all the time - to move - to love - to give - to receive - to believe - to engage - to forgive. But when stress sets in, one can begin to miss the messages that speak to us - go for a walk, smile, let go, don't judge, laugh, or nurture important relationships.  We are constantly meeting new people, expanding our knowledge and discovering more of ourselves.

 

The only way to keep self-care on the table and no longer hold back with what really feeds us is if we have tools - the kind of tools you can use on your own and quickly.  I'm a big fan of tools that don't need tools.  My core knowing is you are your greatest asset no matter what.  Meaning, you have all you need.  It's a matter of knowing what to do with what you have and deciding the direction that supports where you want to go.

 

Let's get started.

 

Key # 1: The most engaged, attentive people sustain their drive for self-care by developing successful practices and routines within life and work so they reduce the amount of stress in their lives.  Try different routines. However, stick to them long enough to know if they work for you and your family.

 

Key #2: Engage in self-care when your willpower is strong.  Mornings for most people.  Once someone is mentally exhausted they are more likely to engage in trade-offs.  The human ability to personally compromise self-care is the first to deteriorate when willpower is depleted.

 

Key #3: Focus on one thing at a time.  Productivity increases by 75% when focused on one task at a time.

 

In order for self-care to matter in life we must get clear with how we are going to weave it into our lives with energy, focus, and confidence.  This will prompt commitment, clarity, and resilience to keep you on track. Imagine that driving force within your self-care!

 

Along the journey, have fun, breathe, and be gentle with yourself, but firm when it comes to making self-care stick.

 

Self-care will become your source of harmony and balance when all else may seem a bit stressful. 

 

To you and your unwavering commitment to self-care,

 

Heather