How to Carve Time Out of a Busy Day for Self-Care

If you’re a business owner, you already know that making time for yourself is nearly impossible. But the truth is that you have to prioritize your mind and body to be the best you can be both at home and at work. Today’s tips can help you streamline so that you can squeeze minutes out of hours and put the focus on yourself for a change.

Meal Plan One Day a Week

By devoting a few hours one day a week to meal planning, you’ll save yourself time the rest of the week by having your menu already planned out and your groceries already picked up. Spending some time each week looking ahead to what you want to eat will save you time in the kitchen, not to mention money in the checkout line.

Reduce Stress by Forming an LLC

You might not think of your business structure as something that helps relieve stress, but the right structure can do just that. As an LLC, your personal money won’t be at risk if something happens with your business, like if you get hit with a major lawsuit. Having this type of protection in place can ease your mind so you can focus on your business.

Streamline Communications

We spend a lot of time talking and going back and forth in our daily lives. While you have to talk with your freelancers, remote workers, vendors, employees, and customers, there are tools you can use that get your point across without sending a long-winded email. If you’re working with PDF attachments and you want to add to the file, no need to start over. Instead, try this to merge PDF files online, which allows you to manage documents in one place, make edit suggestions, and even change and highlight drawings, text, and more in a collaborative environment.

Other Tips

Still need ideas on how to put yourself first? Check out these suggestions:

• Hire a part-time housekeeping service so that you can spend a couple of hours each month doing something you love rather than doing chores.

• Outsource your busy work to a virtual assistant. WeWork explains this is a person that can handle administrative, bookkeeping, customer service, data entry, and business research tasks on your behalf.

• Skip the commute a few days each week. If you can work remotely, you can reclaim your commute time to catch a TV show, take a walk, or simply enjoy the sunshine on a nice day.

• Find a gym close to home. You don’t want to have to trek across town to work out. The closer your gym is to home, the better. Better yet, set up your own home gym so you can work out any time without having to commute!

Self-Care Isn’t Selfish

There’s a good chance you’ve read our time-saving tips and thought to yourself that these are good opportunities to catch up on your emails or your work backlog. No! You have to prioritize self-care so that you can fuel yourself first and be all you must be for everyone else. Remember, if your tank runs dry, your business and your home life will suffer.

Being an entrepreneur means that you’re both stressed and satisfied at the same time most of the time. But if you prioritize self-care, you can sidestep some of the negative consequences of chronic stress and be a better boss. It doesn’t take much to find the time, and simple steps, like streamlining communications and outsourcing some tasks, will be a big help.