Hello there, you multi-tasking, all singing, all dancing creative biz babe. I see you, hustling hard, putting your big brave ideas out there to support others and bring real change to the world. That takes guts and I applaud you.

But I also see you carrying your laptop from the office, to the kitchen, the dining table, to the TV and to bed. I see you buried under to do lists and juggling so many priorities. I see you Instagram DM-ing your next lead while Netflixing and Facebook posting while walking the dog. All for the good of your business.

You’re a 9-5, superhuman, side-hustling creative.

You’re on the path to entrepreneurial success.

But, through it all, you’re comparing yourself to other business owners and wondering when you’re gonna ‘get it together’ and become the business-savvy woman you were born to be.

The truth is, you ARE your business.

Your self-care is the lifeblood of your business.

Yet, YOU are at the bottom of your very own to do list.

You’re actually on the path to entrepreneurial burnout.

The struggle is real but thankfully the solution is simple. It starts with you, finding a process that works for you. It starts with you, getting clear on you, your ideas, your focus, your ability, your self-belief, your end goal. It starts with you, maximising your energy, minimising your overwhelm, mastering your mindset and maintaining focus.

I need to tell you that your grit-fueled, ‘I’m too busy’ mindset, is responsible for your counterproductive practices. I need to tell you to stop delaying prioritising YOU until your business is ready for you to take a break. This is the paradox of success. Your business will never be ready for you to take a break if you aren’t prioritising YOU.

The solution is self-care. Not the airy-fairy-cringe-worthy kind. But real actionable self-care strategies that will support you and the success of your business. It starts here, with these 8 pillars of self-care and super simple, mini action steps that you can start putting into practice today:

CENTRE YOURSELF

Your mind is busy. Your brain is constantly coming up with idea after idea. And what about all the other ideas you started and didn’t finish yet? Creative entrepreneurs are amazing at coming up with new and exciting ideas, but we often fall down when it comes to seeing them through. This is because we often aren’t so great at keeping focused.

Using a centring word for the day can really help to keep us focused on our mission and tasks ahead and gently guide us back if we become distracted. Take some quiet time first thing in the morning to choose your centring word.

An example might be ‘considered’, ‘grateful’, ‘tidy’ or ‘consistent’.

ACTION STEP: Add your centring word to your pin-board, diary or to do list each day

MASTER YOUR MINDSET

Are you familiar with the phrase “what we believe, we become”? Take note of the stories you are telling yourself about your business and your abilities. Too often us creative types get caught up in negative self-talk, comparing ourselves to other creative biz bosses out there who have it ‘all figured out’. We let our mindset hold us back.

Practice writing out your negative mindsets and replacing them with the positive flip side. Challenging our own negative beliefs in this simple way can have big a big impact on our productivity.

ACTION STEP: Come up with a positive mindset mantra that you can call upon when you experience self-doubt.

EMBRACE ROUTINE

Now, I know we are in the business of business to get away from routine! I know the goal is to quit your 9-5 job so you can do things your way, work in your pj’s etc. BUT routine plays a really big part in keeping our mind happy.

Having a simple routine to your working day can improve your mental health by reducing stress and anxiety. It gives you stability, structure and familiarity which is hard to find in the unpredictable world of entrepreneurship. There are no rules here, you need to find a simple routine that works for you, be sure to give yourself a work/life balance though.

ACTION STEP: create a daily routine and implement it for at least a week – do you notice any changes?

JOURNAL IT OUT

am a huge advocate of journaling. I always encourage my students to take to their journal to find the answers to their questions, because more often than not, the answers are already within us, but we are too caught up in the chaos of life to see them.

Using this method to work out our creative business ideas/stumbling blocks gives us a chance to step away from our devices and look at things differently. The practice of journaling can be therapeutic and give us clarity.

ACTION STEP: Try a morning journaling session before you start the day.

MOVE YOUR BODY

Juggling your side hustle with your 9-5 means you can easily be working 70 – 80 hour weeks, and that means there’s not a lot of time for much else.

It can leave you feeling zapped of energy right? Funny thing is, the best way to get more energy is to be active. Exercise can improve energy by releasing endorphins, helping with your quality of sleep, manage stress and getting more oxygen to the brain – and our brain is our biggest asset as creative entrepreneurs! Don’t neglect it.

You don’t need to spend 5 hours a week in the gym to see the benefits. Even scheduling in a 15-minute break for a walk around the block or a dance at your desk will help!

ACTION STEP: Schedule in time for movement each day

CONNECT WITH OTHERS

Being the boss can be lonely. We can go for hours/days working away in our home office without seeing another soul, asking the dog for his opinion.

It is super important to keep connected with others for our mental health and our productivity. As creatives we are really good at connecting online and networking but remember to nurture a physical support network too, friends and family can play an important role in your wellbeing. We can hold back from talking about our creative businesses with them because we fear that ‘they won’t get it’, but debriefing after a busy day is natural and healthy.

ACTION STEP: Identify your support networks, online and in real life – turn to them if needed.

NOURISH HOLISTICALLY

Pay equal attention to your mind, body and soul. It’s easy to get caught up in the nitty-gritty details of running a business that you drift slowly away from the spark that inspired you in the first place.

Feed your mind, be a student always, even of your own niche, the more you learn, the more you will be inspired and the more you can give back to your clients. Feed your body – well. I have been guilty of skipping meals because I am too busy, but it only leads to fatigue and burn out. Feed your soul. What lights you up? What are your life goals, are you still working towards them? Wasn’t fulfilment a reason for starting your biz in the first place?

ACTION STEP: Identify your holistic needs, how can you feed your mind, body and soul well on a daily basis?

DISCONNECT FULLY

Don’t take the phrase ‘portable device’ too far – you carry your laptop from the office to the kitchen, to the dining table, and even to bed…uh-oh. This is not healthy.

Switch off. If it is dinner time or Netflix time, be all there, be all in. You will need to schedule in some downtime from technology because the temptation to ‘catch up’ on business is hard to resist. If it is not scheduled in, it won’t happen. Simple.

ACTION STEP: Set yourself some boundaries and limits, stick to them. Be all in.

I hope that if you are experiencing entrepreneurial overwhelm and burnout you will try implementing these 8 simple steps for a positive change in your well being and business.

If you haven’t already, be sure to join us in the Game Changer community on Facebook or on Instagram – @erinmayhenry.

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