To show up successfully in your professional life, it is important to prioritize yourself personally. I can hear you saying, “Yeah, yeah – I know this,” and I get that you do, but do you do it? It can be challenging to do when you are always working and don’t have time for yourself, but if you won’t choose yourself – who will?
It is essential that you make time for your own well-being if you want to create success on your terms in the long run. In this blog post, we will discuss how to prioritize yourself and work at the same time. I will also offer some strategies to keep yourself a priority!
The key is not to prioritize what is on your schedule but to schedule your priorities, and you, my dear, are a priority.
Decision-making is one of the critical skills that any great leader relies upon—seeing the whole and making decisions that support the whole, even when it’s complicated—considering all facets of a situation and making the best decision from that place.
So why don’t you do that for yourself? If you aren’t making decisions about your professional life while considering your personal life, then you are sacrificing who you are in the process.
Self-leadership is putting yourself on your to-do list and making time for you. It’s saying “no” when you need to and taking care of yourself, even when it’s hard. It’s creating boundaries that you can default to when making decisions so that you have a framework in place that keeps you aligned.
For example, if you had to think of 3 things that you need to do for yourself every day because they are critical to your well-being, whether that be spiritual, emotional, mental, or physical well-being, what would they be? In my world, it’s warm lemon water first thing in the morning, a meditation that aligns with my intention for the day, and a walk. I make sure these happen first because I know if I tell myself that I’ll do it later on, it doesn’t happen.
So what are your three? First, make them doable, and if that means a 5 minute guided meditation, so be it. Whatever you pick, be consistent. Don’t change what you pick for yourself; if anything, change how it happens. Build up to what you ideally want, making it a habit along the way.
So the next time you’re feeling overwhelmed, remember that the key is not to prioritize what is on your schedule but to schedule what is a priority for you.
We fall into the trap of life being our work.
We are not our work. On some level, we “know” that consciously, but in our day to day, we forget and can put ourselves on the back burner as a result. Last week, I spoke at a women’s leadership conference in DC, and I asked a question of the women in the audience. What gets in the way of you getting what you want? I heard not having boundaries, not saying no, putting myself last, working too much, not turning off when I get home, and more. Wow! We may think that hustling and grinding our way to the top is a strategy, but it’s actually depleting us.
To get what we want and achieve our dreams, we need to be clear about our goals and put ourselves as a priority as we pursue them. We can’t keep running on empty and expect to show up as our best selves. If you’re not taking care of yourself, you won’t have the energy or capacity to do the things you want to do, and I know this because I “hit the wall” in my corporate life. It wasn’t a matter of choosing to take care of myself; it was having no choice but to take care of myself because I was so depleted. Anyone been there?
It’s time for a change! So, practice saying no when someone asks you for something that doesn’t align with your goals or your self-care. Make sure that you identify your non-negotiables (the things you absolutely won’t budge on) and make educated decisions that move you toward the highest and best version of you!
Work to live but don’t live to work.
“Work to live, don’t live to work.” What does that mean?
It means that you have the power of choice.
It means that you want to be working to support your life, not the other way around. Work is how we generate wealth, pay our bills, support our families, but it isn’t who we are; it’s a piece of who we are.
Your job should be a means to an end, not the end itself, and with any well-meaning advice, this is easier said than done.
In our society, we are taught from a young age to prioritize our careers. “What do you want to be when you grow up,” is asked of us when we are children. Then, in college, we have to pick a major, and we focus all of our energy in that direction, looking for roles that align with it.
We are told that we need to find a good job and then do whatever it takes to hold onto it. It’s almost as if we forget the rest of who we are as we do that.
But what if we flipped this script?
What if we started prioritizing ourselves along with our jobs? You decide where to put your time, energy, and resources, and it’s time that you choose in favor of yourself. Pick just one thing you will do today that moves the needle in your direction.
Until the next time, here’s wishing you the Clarity you deserve!
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Would you like to start prioritizing yourself? How would you like to know the answers to your next steps, next level, or next chapter in your career, but without losing yourself in the process?
Great! Then, get the FREE workbook that guides you to get the right answers for you for what’s next! Go to www.5DayCareerClarityWorkbook.com to get your own copy and start getting the Clarity you deserve!
