Coach’s Clipboard
To be fulfilled take good care of yourself…and others
How many times have you heard people say it: If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything. It may be a cliché, but it’s true.
In my new book, The Journal for Book Self Aware, I ask people to reflect everyday on something they did for themselves and also something they did for others. Reminding yourself to do daily self care and an act of kindness for someone else, contributes mightily to well being. This week I will focus on self care, and next week I will cover taking care of others.
Recently, I was contacted by the owner of a small business, but the more we talked, the more it became clear that he was looking for more than business coaching. His work life was in pretty good shape, but he had just learned he might have a serious illness on top
of ongoing health problems. Other family members also were battling illnesses. As soon as we began to talk, his health-related anxieties rose to the surface. He admitted that he was focusing so much on work because he didn’t want to deal with these other worries.
Some research suggests that good economic times actually promote bad habits—people tend to drink too much, eat too much and slack off on exercise. Though the evidence is mixed about the opposite scenario—whether bad times can be good for you—it stands to reason that if you maintain good habits in good times, they’ll be there for you when the tide turns.
Dr. Rob’s twelve tips for taking care of yourself:
- Develop routines that promote good health: regular exercise, proper diet, self-redirection.
- Join a peer support group.
- Get therapy if you can’t get past a painful or traumatic point in life.
- Curtail alcohol consumption to at most one drink/day.
- Break a sweat daily.
- Meditate one night a week instead of having a beer or pouring a glass of wine.
- Give up a bad habit. Make a plan, commit to it and be accountable to someone else.
- Spend some time every week with a friend.
- Plan free days when you do no work.
- Look in the mirror every day as a stimulus to lose weight.
- Cook a healthful meal from scratch at least once a week.
- Get a good night’s sleep. Avoid caffeine before bedtime; watch what you eat and drink; avoid napping during the day; keep your bedroom quiet, cool, dark and well- ventilated; get regular exercise during the day.
Record daily in a personal journal what your intent was for the day and a reflection of how the day went. Also make note of TGCoSO (Take Good Care of Self and Others) activities:
*Taken from my book The Journal for the Book Self Aware