Increase Productivity as an Entrepreneur with Mindful Movement
Have you ever thought that you could just push through a few extra hours to “get ahead” of your to-do list for tomorrow?
Yeah, same here. The problem with this is that there’s always more to do!
We never really “get ahead” since there is more to be done, and we can actually set ourselves up to fall behind. Constantly trying to hustle and grind without making time for rest and/or movement can lead us to start losing focus, not having the energy required to show up how we want to, or getting sick from burning the candle at both ends.
Being an entrepreneur is a marathon, not a sprint. It can be tempting to hustle and grind a lot, work on very little sleep to try to get more done, and push aside things like exercise until we have more time later. But this is the quickest path to burnout.
For a while, I (Jessica) got obsessed with being as productive and efficient as possible.
As entrepreneurs, we have a walk-in closet full of different hats, don’t we?
Gosh. It can be overwhelming sometimes, and the hats we need to wear for our personal health and personal lives, can sit around gathering dust while we’re so focused on growing our business and dreams.
Near the end of last year, I started feeling stressed and overwhelmed almost every minute of every day. I was sleeping but not waking up feeling rested, and I started feeling angry about a lot of things. Cooking? Forget it, what a waste of time to cook one meal and end up with a kitchen full of dishes. So if I couldn’t get myself prepared to cook more than one meal at a time, I did not want to cook at all.
I started fast-forwarding everything, YouTube videos, podcast episodes, Voxer messages… If there was something that I couldn’t fast forward (even conversations with real people in real-time), I felt myself getting anxious.
Luckily for me, I was already friends with Monica Le Baron, who is known as The Sleep Queen. And I knew she had some techniques I could start using again to bring myself back from the brink of burnout and self-destruction.
In practicing Monica’s techniques, I was reminded of the importance of working out for mental health as well as physical health.
I’ve been pretty consistent with my workouts for the past three years, but I had started to see them as one more “to-do” on my list and was just trying to get them over with… I wasn’t being mindful about my workouts, and I was missing out on some of the benefits.
Working out, or moving your body and getting your heart rate up, for 30 minutes a day can have amazing benefits for you personally and for your business.
Mindful exercise can boost productivity for your work hours, and better yet, help keep you away from the path to burnout.
When was the last time you got up from your office chair? (For more than a walk to the bathroom.)
I’d be willing to bet that it has been at least three hours if you’re in the middle of your workday.
Your energy might be stagnant or declining, your focus may be dwindling, and your overall health is declining because sitting is the new smoking.
One of the best things we’ve ever done at Keep it Sassy is to make movement a priority. We were lucky enough to work with David from Better Health Better Life, a Chiropractor who is helping people take control of their health with home-based programs. Since working with him, we’ve learned how to break our sitting habit, and how to improve our posture with simple exercises and stretching that get our blood flowing – which ultimately gets our productivity and creativity flowing too.
Win-win!!
If you’re still unsure about this and thinking that hustling your way to success is better than taking a mindful approach with movement, here’s a list of benefits we’ve experienced at Keep it Sassy after exercising:
Benefits of Mindful Exercise/Movement
Clears your mind.
Opens you up to new ideas.
(literally gets things flowing)
Boosts your energy.
Increases productivity.
(we like to think grinding away all day makes us more productive, but that just makes us “busy” and bitter - take a breath and a walk, then thank us later)
Increases confidence that you can grow through challenges.
Increases belief in yourself when you keep your own promises.
Increases resilience against challenges.
(you challenge yourself in a workout and realize that you are stronger than you gave yourself credit for!)
You are important, and
you are so much more than your business.
We want to see you achieve your wildest business goals, but never at the expense of your health.
As entrepreneurs with busy work and home lives, we know the struggle first hand. We’re not perfect! We have good times and challenging times, but our health is always part of our business goals, because, without our health, we cannot continue to chase after our biggest goals.
Xo, Jessica
