Today’s Tuesday Reading is from Nancy Sweatt, Coach, Facilitator, and Program Administrator at MOR Associates. Nancy may be reached at [email protected] or via LinkedIn.
As the self-care trend emerged over the past few decades, I was too busy to pay much attention. I was putting my family and career first and felt that I needed to focus all my energy on these areas to be the best mom and succeed in my career.
Thankfully, my mindset has slowly evolved over the past few years. Although still a work in progress, I am working on self-care. Initially, practicing self-care was taking a moment, or two if I was lucky, to myself. My next progression in taking care of myself was focusing on physical self-care, such as sleeping well, eating well, and exercising. In these areas, I found success by using what Charles Duhigg describes as the “Habit Loop” – starting with a cue, then a routine, followed by a reward. I set my alarm for 5:30 am three days a week. I got up and went to an exercise class. Following class, the endorphins helped me feel great.
Self-care has many more categories than just physical. Figuring this out was a huge lightbulb moment for me! Some other categories include:
- Mental – mindfulness and relaxation techniques
- Emotional – emotional awareness, management, gratitude, journaling
- Spiritual – meditation, nature, time alone
- Intellectual – read, write, word puzzles, learn, play a game
- Social – friends, support, boundaries, positive social media
- Financial – budgeting
- Work – time management
When it comes to taking care of yourself, individual preferences and needs are different. The key is figuring out what is important to you and putting yourself on your to-do list. To quote Mandy Hale, “It’s not selfish to love yourself, take care of yourself, and to make your happiness a priority. It’s necessary.” So, set aside some time to think about these self-care categories and decide what resonates with you right now.
Then, set a goal or two. My two-decade career as a physical therapist was an excellent education regarding goals and how to best achieve them. My advice is to make them your own and make the actions specific (when, how often, over what period of time). How will you hold yourself accountable? Write down the goal, document progress on actions, and have an accountability partner you check in with regularly. In addition to commitment and effort, re-evaluation is key. Is your goal still important to you? Are the actions realistic or do you need to make any adjustments? Altering goals and actions is part of the process!
Prioritizing myself has not been easy. I am committed to this journey. Intellectual self-care is my current focus. I have found joy in listening to audiobooks while I drive. For those who don’t know me, I drive A LOT. My 2020 minivan is going strong with more than 110,000 miles. I also enjoy working through the NYT Games at lunch (my favorite is Connections). Wherever you are in your life’s journey, I hope you choose self-care too.
Last week, we asked which of Rob Lowden’s leadership lessons resonated most with you.
- 35% said include others in your journey. You will find it incredibly rewarding.
- 34% said input rights versus decision rights.
- 31% said follow your dreams and learn from your failures.
Each of these lessons resonated fairly evenly for this group, signifying the value of each of the lessons. Leadership lessons such as these are valuable both individually and collectively as we consider the combined impact they have had for Rob and the combined potential they have for us to consider.