Welcome to day 9 of my 30 day Blogging Challenge – A series called From Zero Confidence To Feeling More Fabulous in 30 Days. If you missed Day One’s post you can read it here and can follow the series through from there. I’m going to be writing about confidence and each day sharing some tips for building your confidence slowly. The tools and hints/tips I’m sharing can be used for you or your coaching clients but for now I want you to focus on you. Building your confidence can have a great impact on your business and life. You will be amazed at what you can do when you feel more confident.
Yesterday we talked about procrastination and how it can dent your confidence. Today we’re going to be focusing on self care and how to prevent burnout.
Recently I was asked if I’d like to co-author 3 chapters of a personal development book so I was asking in my Coaching Rocks group (my freebie support group for coaches and people thinking about coaching) what aspects of my work; confidence/skills/business, did they think would make a good read? One reply I received that I loved was this, “You talk very convincingly about the importance of self care as an essential spring board to being ‘fabulous’ in business. (You’ve managed to convince me anyway!) I also like your passion for authenticity and being ‘the fabulous you’.”
I’m SO proud of this comment, do you know why? Because my own self-care is a HUGE work in progress. Last year I knew I needed to work on my self-care because I throw myself into my coaching business (well everything actually) and as a result I get burnout, to the point I can do nothing for a few days every few months. I knew I needed to kick this overwork-overwhelm-burnout cycle so I made a conscious effort to work on my self-care and to help my clients do the same thing, as I know it’s key to running your own business. In fact I think it’s so very important that it’s part of my first module of my Coaching Rocks Bootcamp where I teach how to build the foundations of a business in 12 steps.
I want you to make that conscious effort too, for you and also with your coaching clients. Let’s start helping people to take better care of themselves first.
Let me share with you the one biggest thing that I learnt on my own journey of discovering self care.
This huge realisation came to me when working with my Mentor. I was sharing how I kept hitting this cycle and couldn’t get myself out of it. So what do I mean? Very often we adopt self care strategies when it’s too late. We hit the point that we know we have to take some ‘me’ time and start to throw in some coping strategies to quickly improve the situation. It might be a ‘I’ll read a book in the bath tonight – that will help’ or ‘I’ll have some time working in my shed’ and it works…for a while…but then it’s back to square one of pushing and pushing because we feel re-energised and ready to go again. That’s not enough though, you’re just doing all you can to get through a rough patch.
What you (we) need is a maintenance plan where your self care becomes a ritual, something you repeat day in day out. If you’re like me and lots of my clients you might not want to do exactly the same thing every single day so you can have lots of different things that you count as self care and choose from those.
Here are just a few examples;
- Reading a book
- Bubble bath
- Going for a walk or some form of exercise
- Switching off technology
- Shopping
- Hobbies – crafts, gaming, rock climbing
- Watching movies
- Meditation
- Creativity – doodling, singing, dancing, painting, drawing
- Plus many, many more ….
We’ve talked about how self care is important for your business, how you can avoid burnout and explored a few ideas of what you could start to incorporate as daily self care rituals. Now onto today’s task.
Today’s Task
Do my simple self care quiz to identify any gaps in your self care and share in the comments below what you’re going to focus on. Then write yourself a mini list of self care things you might like to try, just start with 2 or 3 to get your list going. Get as creative as you can with your list – Self care can cover so many areas – it’s not about what others think, it’s about what makes you feel as though you’ve cared for you, those things that make you feel re-energised and full of life again.
Series Links So Far
The best bit about this challenge so far has been hearing about the shifts in mindset from people – it excites me the impact simple little coaching exercises can have when people just take the time to be open to trying new things. For those of you taking those baby steps I’m so glad to have you joining me on this journey. Here are the links again in case you’ve missed any of the series so far.
- From Zero Confidence to Feeling More Fabulous in 30 Days
- A Simple Way To Strengthen Your Confidence
- How To Boost Your Confidence At Any Time
- Finally The Truth About Confidence
- The Really Simple Way To Boost Confidence
- Dealing with your inner critic
- 7 Simple Tips To Turn Around Negative Self Talk
- Breaking Free From Procrastination
A couple of the other bloggers doing this challenge have also been writing about mindset and self care - check out their posts too – it’s always great to learn different perspectives and reinforce your learning 
Want some added fun and support? Pop your info in the form below and you’ll get free access to my private Facebook group – Confidence Rocks for the duration of the challenge. Ps – when you sign up you’ll get sent a link to the group page – you’ll need to request to join.
Are you studying to be a Coach or ready to get serious about your coaching business?
If you want to boost your confidence in your business skills come and join my Coaching Rocks Bootcamp programme starting next Monday. I take you through a fabulous and simple 12 step blueprint to get your business up, running and earning. Be quick – spaces are limited. Grab your spot now while you can.
This is a rally valuable post a Ruby, especially for us coaches who concentrate so much on other people! I know burn out too well (made the same mistake about three times….) and am very strict on my self care rituals. I am finding myself another borrow doggy to take walking and will add that back into my routine as there is nothing quite like scaling the hills chucking a ball for a furry friend. I am also going to make sure that I do my lunchtime walk again to take some well needed space and time to explore.
Thanks for the reminder
I’m really pleased to hear you’re strict on your self care now. It’s definitely important as coaches. It’s so easy for us to continuously serve others but we need to look after ourselves first in order to fill ourselves up, re-energise and revitalise. We are doing a disservice otherwise where we aren’t giving the best of ourselves because we just don’t have it to give. Let’s hope everyone can learn from our mistakes
A really handy post Ruby, and yes, of course you’re right, we do tend to “self care” when it’s too late. In my case I tend to over self care too late and everyone thinks I’m being lazy!
What needs to change for you Sarah so that you don’t leave it too late and it becomes part of a daily ritual for you?
Ruby, this post should be compulsory reading for anyone who helps others!!! I am always asking people “who cares for the carer?” we spend so much time helping others that most of the time we forget to care for ourselves and when we do that we are in no position to give our fullest to others – great post
Thanks Mike
Like you say, so easy to forget.