The pressures of running a business are challenging, add in the juggle of everything you have going on in your life, and it is easy to see why so many of us struggle with stress and overwhelm.

We tell ourselves that if

we can just finish this piece of work, or just tick a few more things off our to do list, we can then relax. We are craving a sense of achievement to then feel calm.

Unfortunately, the opposite happens, the more we work the more overwhelmed and stressed we become, and when we are in that state the more, we work, it is a vicious circle.

I know because I consistently overworked throughout my career. It was my go-to habit to cope, I thought working harder which fix everything. I was wrong it was a one-way ticket to even more stress, even more overwhelm and not to mention guilt at work and at home and exhaustion.

Through my coach training I learnt about my own beliefs and how they were driving my habits and this self-awareness transformed the way I think and act every day and I now help my clients to do the same.

The most important thing I learnt. Put yourself on your to do list and make it a must achieve task every day!

To be our most present, productive, and calm selves we need self-care every day. Time to do whatever it is that relaxes us the most. It might be a walk, yoga, meditation, for me it’s an hour alone to read or do nothing which helps me to switch off.

There will be times when you think there is no way I can make that happen today but those are the times that you need to do it the most, on the busiest and craziness of days let something else drop off the list but not your time for self-care.

So put yourself on your to do list every day, it is the most important thing on your list because doing less is what achieves more.

Give it a try – what self-care will you put on your to do list today?