Business Owners: Take Care of Yourself First

We all know the routine. We hear it every time we fly. If the oxygen masks pop out, we’re supposed to put ours on first before we take care of the small children next to us.

The same idea is really important for entrepreneurs and business owners. Take care of yourself before you take care of your business. And take of your people too, before the business.

Yes, I know that’s tough. You’ve got the business weighing you down, there’s that magnetic pull you have to finish the post, finish the white paper, finish the programming, finish the collateral, finish that last email … so you skip the kids’ soccer game, or dinner, or that day off on the weekend.

It happens all too often. We end up overweight, not sleeping well, not getting enough exercise, stressed, and hard to live with. And it’s all for the business, which we say is for the people we care about.

Don’t do it. It’s tempting, of course, and hard to resist. But don’t do it.

(Image: sjlocke/istockphoto)

Comments

  • Jamie Flinchbaugh says:

    That’s a fantastic analogy, the O2 mask.

    It’s so easy to believe that you can’t spare a minute from your company. But if you’re on edge, so is everyone else. If you’re burned out, so is everyone else. There’s no honor in 20 hour workdays if the business fails, and if you aren’t able to think clearly when needed most, that’s exactly how it will end up.

    Thanks for the reminder.

  • Financial Advisor Mississauga says:

    I like the part that you wrote about taking care of yourself and your people. These days many business owners make sacrifices to make their venture financially succesful and do not consider the long term negative consequences this brings to their health and relationships. As a financial advisor, I help clients to think about their goals and values and let them realize that true wealth is more than having monetary assets.

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