In my line of business, I work with a lot of high-achieving driven leaders. These are people who are doers, go-getters, who love to work and will often self-identify as a workaholic. They wear this label like a badge of honor. They are proud that they work harder and longer than anyone they know and they tend to tie up a lot of their identity in what they can accomplish. This work ethic is often what they think has gotten them to where they are and they assume the road to continued success is to work even harder than they have before. While hard work and determination is important to leadership success, too much of it can actually be detrimental to your continued growth.
When we push ourselves all the time, there is no time to rest and recharge. There are consequences to being on all the time and doing everything ourselves. Many leaders come to me exhausted and burned out for many different reasons. Some feel like they can’t delegate anything because no one knows how to do things quite the way they do and it would take too long to teach them. Some feel bad sharing the workload because they don’t want to burden their employees and coworkers. Whatever the reason, the first thing I always ask these leaders is how they take care of themselves. The question is almost always met with the same answer, that while they are great at getting things done and taking care of others, they aren’t that great at taking care of themselves.
I almost always assign homework around self-care because what we don’t always realize is that self-care is a hugely important part of leadership. When we take care of ourselves, we can do almost everything better. A lot of times, leaders will struggle with the concept of self-care because there is a lot of misconception around what it actually means. Self-care doesn’t have to be all massages and facials, it can be whatever helps you relax and recharge your batteries. If you struggle making time for self-care, here are some tips to get you started.
- Recognize that self-care is a necessity, not a nicety. Self-care is not selfish and it’s not a nice to have, it’s a must have if you want to be a successful leader.Being a leader takes energy and motivation and the only way to get that energy and motivation is to take care of yourself.
- Decide what self-care means to you. Remember that self-care doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. Think about the things that make you happy and give you rest. Maybe it’s a three-mile run in the morning, maybe it’s practicing meditation in the morning or maybe it’s just turning off your phone and playing with your kids for a few hours every day. Or maybe it’s just turning up the music and dancing like nobody’s watching, you do you.
- Schedule your “me” time. A lot of leaders think that they don’t have time for self-care. When you take a hard look, it’s probably not that you don’t have time, but that you don’t make time. We make time for what’s important. Schedule some non-negotiable “me” time on your calendar. Make it an appointment with yourself that can’t be cancelled.
Remember that self-care is absolutely necessary if you want to be successful as a leader. If you don’t take care of yourself you put yourself at risk of burnout or worse. The better you take care of yourself, the better you will be able to show up for the people you lead. What does self-care look like for you?
