10 Simple Ways to Overcome Obstacles to Self-Care

As a busy professional trying to do ALL. THE. THINGS., you risk chronic health issues by constantly putting everyone else’s needs before your own. Let that sink in. Your willingness to put your needs after everyone else’s is bad for your health.

Failing to take care of yourself not only catches up with your wellbeing, but negatively impacts how you show up for those you care about most.

If you have trouble finding the time, energy, and motivation for self-care, you are not alone! You might feel self-care is selfish. Or, that it’s impossible to put yourself on your multipage to-do list.

If you want to overcome common challenges of self-care so that YOU are on your to-do list and take better care of yourself, consider practicing one or more of the following strategies as a first step towards rebalancing your wellbeing and being the best version of you.

1. Shift Your Mindset

Your mind is powerful and yields feelings, actions, and results you either want or don’t want. You get to choose your thoughts based on the feelings, actions, and results you want. So, flip the script with these thoughts to increase the amount of self-care you practice.

• Some stress is healthy. Contrary to popular belief, not all stress is bad. [McGonigal, K. (2015). The Upside of Stress. New York: Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House] You need it for peak performance — those times when you feel like you’re operating on all cylinders or hitting a grand slam. Instead of believing you need to get rid of stress, trust that you have a zone of healthy stress from which you perform at your best. True, your stress boils over from the healthy zone to the zones of imbalance or breakdown due to your multipage to-do list and life’s curveballs. Ultimately, you can develop strategies for your self-care toolkit that keep you in your zone of healthy stress and help you recalibrate from the zone of imbalance or recover from the zone of breakdown.
• Focus on what you’ll gain instead of what you’ll lose. When you consider making a behavior change — big or small — it’s normal to focus on what you’ll have to give up. You can flip your mindset, however, to focus on what you’ll gain. For example, if you want to walk 5 out of 7 days a week, you could schedule it during your lunch break. But you typically use that time to pay bills and catch up on household paperwork, and you’re hesitant to give that time up. When you shift your mindset, you realize the physical energy you gain from walking will prevent your afternoon slump when your brain struggles to focus. Gaining energy is more important to you than finding another time to take care of bill paying and household paperwork.
• To get more energy for self-care, you need to spend some first. As a high–achieving professional, you want to take care of All. The. Things. But you’re exhausted, overwhelmed, sleep-deprived, overworked, etc. You’re sold on the idea that self-care is important but where is the energy going to come from? Oddly enough, doing the very thing for which you’re awaiting energy. Flip your mindset so that you put forth effort before having the energy you believe you need. Thankfully, strategies like exercising and drinking enough water are self-perpetuating energy generators.
• Manage energy, not time. Feeling like you don’t have enough time for self-care is a universal problem. The suggested solution is to find more time. But time isn’t a renewable resource. No matter what, you will always have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, etc. You have control over the quantity and quality of your energy, however. And you can intentionally plan self-care practices that replenish energy.

2. Identify Your Self-Care Sweet Spot

Wherever you’re starting from, your self-care sweet spot = how you want to feel + your season of life. This isn’t about doing what anyone else thinks is best for you. Or, what you see others posting on social media. This is about YOU intentionally choosing what you want to experiment with based on you being the expert on YOU in YOUR season of life.

3. Connect with Your WHY for Self-Care

Are you mentally, physically, or emotionally exhausted and overwhelmed? Maybe you or someone you know has had a health scare that concerns you. Or your pace and productivity don’t align with the life you imagined. Whatever your why for taking better care of yourself, ask yourself “why” two more times — go deeper until you get to your feelings. For example, you might want to eat healthier foods. Why? “Everyone says it will increase my immunity.” Why is that important? “Because I’m a smart person and I would feel dumb if I developed a health issue that could have been prevented by consistently eating healthier foods.” Connecting to your deep-down why provides motivation.

4. Believe Self-Care Is the Opposite of Selfish

As a high achieving professional, you want to be perceived as capable. As a result, you put your head down and plow through everything you expect of yourself or that you’ve said yes to. Ironically, you become selfish if you DON’T take care of yourself. You compromise your capacity. I know for sure that you deserve self-care as much as any other human on the planet. You are worthy of self-care.

5. Spend AND Renew Energy

Maintaining a steady stream of energy expenditure is unrealistic. Life throws curveballs and seasons change. Both require extra energy. That’s ok. You can do hard things (just not all the time). The trick to rhythmically spending and renewing energy is to plan for recovery. Plan the self-care practices that will help you recover (by replenishing energy). Pro tip: To the extent that you can, do your hardest tasks when you have the most energy.

6. Add These Healthy Living Practices

Try these health and wellness non-negotiables:

• Drink the number of ounces of water that equal half your body weight.
• Prioritize sleep at least one night during the week. While getting more sleep would surely give you more energy, this isn’t likely an option for every night. But you can choose one night per week (mid-week is the most popular) and commit to an earlier bedtime. An extra 30 minutes in bed will add up over time.
• Express gratitude consistently. Being grateful can restore mental and emotional energy. When circumstances or thoughts suck up your energy, draining your reserves, focus on 3-5 aspects of your mind, body, or spirit for which you are grateful. Once your brain shifts to these positive thoughts, you are more likely to have the energy you need to take better care of yourself.

 7. Value Yourself by Valuing Your Time

If you’re in the habit of saying yes to everything that comes your way and putting other people’s needs ahead of your own, you’re basically saying your time is worth nothing. Alternatively, when you value your time, you spend it intentionally. You proactively plan instead of reactively responding. You manage your energy across the finite hours in a day instead of wishing for more hours. Valuing your time positively correlates with valuing YOU. Spending time on self-care shows you believe you’re worth it. Which of course you are!

8. Tell Yourself a Different Story

Your mind has an unending loop of thoughts that don’t always serve your best interests. For example, you might spend all day reinforcing that “I don’t have enough time,” or “time flies,” or “I never have time for myself.” Your thoughts become your actions, so those thoughts keep you creating more of the same. Try this thought instead: “I always have enough time for all of my priorities.” In this story, you’re telling yourself that you make time for what is important to you. Then you can start evaluating what those priorities are.

9. Start Where You Are with Small Steps

To take better care of yourself, start where you are. No judgment. Just start. Choose 1-2 small steps that you can take to intentionally plan your schedule so that you prioritize your self-care. It’s surprising just how little time it takes to get started. Five minutes a day adds up to 35 minutes a week. 10 minutes a day gives you 70 minutes of self-care per week. Schedule your self-care just like you would schedule anything important for work or your family. Remember that self-care will provide the capacity to meet all the ways you’ve agreed to show up for those you care about most.

10. Make a Commitment to Yourself

Consistency will make the difference in reaping the full benefits of taking better care of yourself. If you integrate self-care practices into your daily routine you will notice a difference in the motivation, energy, and time you have for self-care. The better you take care of yourself the more self-care you’ll want to proactively plan.

Bring It All Together

Which of the 10 strategies above can you commit to for at least 10 days? What feels doable so that you have the motivation and energy for self-care?

Keep in mind new habits need a minimum of 90 days to stick depending on a few factors because your brain needs to be trained in the new ways that you want to behave. The most important thing you can do is to choose something you can achieve consistently. Success will generate more success.

If you want to:

• Take better care of yourself right now
• Jumpstart your mental, physical, and emotional energy to better meet responsibilities
• Invest in yourself (so that you can feel more in control and happier)

Take my quiz. Then request the FREE customized guide which includes 6 simple and inexpensive self-care tips that will help you go from exhausted to energized.