Health Tips For Entrepreneurs
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Being an entrepreneur can be all consuming. You wake up and you immediately have 101 things to do. You have even put your feet on the floor but you’re already compiling a list of all the things you HAVE to get done today.
So you grab a pop tart or a bowl of cereal and get to work. Before you know it, it’s noon and you haven’t had anything to eat or got out of your chair since you first sat down with that pop tart!
You grab something quick for lunch, maybe it’s leftovers, maybe it’s a schmorgas board of chips, fruit and whatever is in your pantry and you get back to work! The next thing you know it’s dark out and you are hungry again. You make some quick pasta and work again until midnight.
Does this story sound familiar? Or do parts of it hit home for you?
I get that as entrepreneurs we are hustling and doing everything to get to the next level with our business. If we just write one more sales funnel or one more blog post or edit one more Instagram photo, we just know it’s going to get us there!
But the reality is, if we don’t take time and slow down for our own health, our business will never be healthy. I did an entire blog post and video on the importance of taking a break and my experience if you want to read that post right here. But today I want to talk about how you can take care of yourself throughout the day while you are hustling!
First, plan out your meals.
I found this super beneficial for me when I was working outside of the house. Having a meal plan makes going to the grocery store a lot easier and makes the decision of what to eat a lot easier!
What I like to do is sit down and plan out what I’m going to eat every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I don’t need to have something different every day for breakfast so making a giant crock pot full of steel cut oats on Sunday night will last me the entire week. Or grabbing some greek yogurt with granola and fruit is another easy go to of mine. Planning out healthy alternatives ahead of time will make your choices healthier!
I also plan two snacks a day. One between breakfast and lunch and one between lunch and dinner. Keeping your blood sugar from dropping not only keeps you more productive and alert, it keeps your metabolism going. I like to have almonds or walnuts to snack on, greek yogurt, smoothies, and fruit as quick simple snacks to grab.
My husband and I don’t mind eating leftovers, so we will plan to make a big meal on Monday and eat leftovers throughout the week when we don’t feel like cooking. This way it’s not take out, it’s not a processed freezer meal, it’s healthy and it just needs re-heated! The rest of the days we will eat quick meals like grilled or baked chicken on salads. Healthy choices and we aren’t spending a lot of time in the kitchen!
Second, exercising.
I know exercise can get put on the side burner when you are trying to start a business or grow your business but it’s so important to get some exercise in everyday. Especially if you find yourself sitting in an office chair for hours at a time!
I follow the Tone It Up community and what’s great about this community is every week you get a workout schedule sent to your email every Sunday, completely for free! They also have quite a few Youtube videos for you to follow if you don’t have gym equipment at home or are a member to a gym. I really love doing HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts because you get the biggest bang for your buck with these workouts.
With HIIT you are doing multiple sets of highly intense exercising for 60 seconds then you rest for 15-30 seconds. Then start again. These exercises are great because you burn a lot of calories in a quick amount of time. You are also working out all areas of your body and getting in cardio just with one 30 minute workout.
I try to plan to do a higher intensity workout at least 3 times a week. It’s so important to get your heart pumping and to get some cardio activity in when you are sitting in an office chair all day.
Some of my favorite workouts on Youtube:
If you aren’t ready to start with the intense workouts, I've got a challenge for you!
Challenge Time!
Set a timer on your phone or computer to get up every hour for 6 or 7 hours.
Hour 1 - 30 seconds of jumping jacks
Hour 2 - 30 seconds of squats
Hour 3 - 30 seconds of push ups
Hour 4 - 30 seconds of crunches
Hour 5 - 30 seconds of small arm circles
Hour 6 - 60 seconds of lunges (30 seconds on each leg)
Hour 7 - 60 seconds of stretching
Just find different exercises that work for you and do them for 30 - 60 seconds every hour. This will get blood pumping back through your body. It will get you off the office chair. It will also wake you up and become more productive.
I love to throw some yoga in once a week to really center myself and reflect on the week or where I’m at. Being an entrepreneur can be highly stressful so taking some time to decompress is always a great option.
And finally getting sleep!
I know it can seem like the right decision when you’re working on something and you are really into it, to just stay awake until 2AM just to get it done. But this isn’t the answer. You need to get your sleep not only for your body to recuperate but for your brain to highly effective too.
Just recently Marie Forleo interviewed Ariana Huffington about her new book all about sleep and how important it is to get it! You can check out the interview here. Staying up late and getting up early isn’t going to make your business grow. It’s just going to burn you out. You aren’t going to be the most effective entrepreneur you can be and your business is ultimately going to suffer.
I know most days isn’t doesn’t seem like there are enough hours in the day so if you just sleep for 4 hours you can get more work done. But those hours you are awake with no sleep aren’t going to be as productive as the hours you are wake with sleep. So try to shot for 7 hours of sleep a minimum. Somedays you might have a big project you have to get done and I understand. But don’t make it a habit of sleeping only 4 hours a day. Again, I go back to my quote,
“Don’t sacrifice your health for the health of your business because if you aren’t healthy your business won’t be healthy”
I want to know what are some of your favorite ways to stay healthy as an entrepreneur? Let’s share our tips in the comments section below!
