5 REASONS ENTREPRENEURS CAN’T AFFORD TO
SKIMP ON SELF-CARE
It’s easy to put your needs last when starting a business, but the smartest entrepreneurs know they can’t afford NOT to make self-care a priority. BY GRACY OBUCHOWICZ
I’ve been my own boss for eight years now. It’s a great life that I recommend wholeheartedly to anyone who likes a challenge, enjoys taking charge of their own time, and doesn’t mind taking risks. However, I always caution people to make sure they are solid in their selfcare routine before creating a business. If they don’t possess the personal stability that comes from strong self-care, I worry about their long-term health — and the success of the enterprise they are devoting their life to. Why is this? I know from experience that starting your own venture almost always means cutting corners. In an ideal world, there would be enough time, energy, and money to launch your business in the way it deserves. However, the reality is that until your great idea takes off, there’s a lot of hard work that goes in without a clear payoff. During this time, you have to make many important decisions about how to use your resources. The tradeoff
is inevitable: to spend money or energy where you want, you must scrimp in other areas. You get used to doing without in the pursuit of doing what you love. One of the decisions I often see entrepreneurs make in the beginning is to cut back on self-care. The business comes first because it needs all our valuable energy to grow. Extras like gym memberships and massages must be cut from ever-tightening budgets. Plus, the stress of not knowing whether all this effort will pay off can adversely affect health in major ways. More nights than we entrepreneurs would like to admit are spent eating take-out food in front of a computer screen instead of working out. When we let self-care slide, though, we’ve got it all backwards. For the following five reasons, we need to realize that self-care should be one place we can’t afford to cut back.