Building a business doesn’t have to be unhealthy.

Over the years watching people chase “success” has been a huge eye opener, especially when it comes to actually doing it for myself. Some of the biggest observations I have noticed are lack of sleep, poor nutrition, toxic relationships, pointless meetings, constant distractions, saying “yes” too often and consuming too many substances.

When it comes to being “successful”, something has to give, and sometimes that happens in multiple aspects of life. When you build something that requires energy, attention and money, you need to make time to bring that idea to life and then more time to actually keep it going. This naturally causes an imbalance and whilst the days don’t have to be perfect, you can set boundaries and put restrictions in place to not only protect your loved ones, your teams and most importantly, you.

Here are 5 ways to look after yourself more when building your biz.

1. Set your daily/weekly non negotiables 
   This is important as you need to do these tasks to actually do your best work.
   
   - night time routine
   - daily movement
   - no tech time
   - sunlight
   - hot + cold practices
   - reading and learning time
   - prayer/ meditation
   
   

2. Put boundaries in place
   One of best ways to do your most productive work is limiting yourself to times when it suits you. Obviously, there will be times where you just have to adjust, however, if you spend 80% of your time on your terms, it helps in the long game.
   
   - no phone for certain periods of the day
   - family time
   - no email/slack replies after a certain time
   - no hard conversations at night
   - less meetings

   
   

3. Saying No
   This goes to pretty much everything. You don’t always need an explanation or reason to why you’ve said “No”.
    
   Especially these:
   - instant replies
   - offers
   - meetings
   - urgent client requests

   
   

4. Spending time with other entrepreneurs 
   They understand your struggles and day to day life, as they are doing it themselves. Don’t be scared to invite them to do things with you. They may even learn something from you.
   
   Some examples of practices that work well:
   - workouts
   - morning coffee
   - walks
   - cold plunges or saunas
   - reading the same books
   - time in nature

   
   

5. Be the example
   When you consistently do these tasks and practices, over and over, not only to do people respect you, however, so do your clients, team members and communities.
   
   
   

   Building a business is hard and rewarding. Nothing worth having comes without a cost, whether that be emotional, physical, mentally or financial. It’s just important to be aware that taking care of yourself is the priority, because without your health, nothing can be achieved.