It’s an internal battle I think many women go through…. do I read for 20 minutes or fold the laundry? do I meditate this morning or help my child with her science project? do I go and get a massage or should I really save that money and use it on a night out for the family?

After 3 months of paying ’round the clock attention to my daughter, we are finally getting to a point where her schedule is such that I am able to journal, (blog), read, and meditate again… and WOW does it feel good!

There are really 2 aspects of “me time” that I want to bring to light today, and start a discussion about what you guys think of each.

The first is time for personal development, the second is time to physically take care of your body… be it relaxation or exercise.

In my opinion, personal development is the often underestimated, critical component to being a successful entrepreneur. This morning I started a book called Midas Touch, co-authored by Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump. In the first chapter alone I picked up literally about 20 golden nuggets that were great reminders to me for my business. One of the golden nuggets was a quote that I shared on Facebook. It’s by an anonymous author and it says, “Life is like a grindstone. Whether it grinds you down or polishes you up depends on what you’re made of.” Isn’t that the truth?

We all know people who just go along their days, being ground down by the doldrums of work, the busy-ness of raising a family, and being VIP members of the blaming and complaining club. These are folks who have been raised and taught to be employees. To get a job and buy into the illusion that it’s “secure” and will provide them stability so that they can “retire”. They settle for mediocrity, and so allow themselves to be worn out, worn down, and worn thin (or should I say thick from their beer belly?).

THEN there are the people like you and me. Those who have raised their hand and said, “wait a minute! I want MORE out of life!” And so we embark on our journey to become entrepreneurs. But we run into one little problem. We see the opportunity, and we have the best of intentions, we gather the capital to invest in our venture, we get started… and we run into problems. The problem we face is connecting our idea, our dream, our goal… to our REALITY. What that takes is discipline and a specific skill set. In my opinion, personal development is the keystone to connecting your dream life to your current reality… or said differently, personal development allows you to make your dream your reality.

What are your thoughts on the importance of personal development? Does a situation in your life or your business come to mind where you specifically credit your success to being a student of personal growth? How do you find “me time” during the day to work on your personal growth?

The next form of “me time” is for relaxation or exercise.

The exercise comes easy to me personally. I was raised in a family where there was always time for exercise, and to me it’s my form of meditation. I can meditate while out for a run just as easy if not easier than sitting still. What’s awesome is that being in the health and wellness industry, I consider working out to be an income-producing activity for my business. My body image promotes my business as well as my personal story of losing my baby weight, having more energy, and being in great shape… so I can do what I love, and be working on my business at the same time. 

If you are not in the health and wellness industry, it can be a little harder to have the discipline to get out there and get your groove on. I will say this as shortly and sweetly as I can… if you want to be the best that you can be, doesn’t it make sense that your body be in peak condition? If you are in great health, you will have great energy, great clarity of mind, and be able to handle situations and build your business more quickly than if you didn’t. MAKE time, clear your schedule, do what you’ve got to do to get out at least a couple of times per week to take care of your physical well-being.

The relaxation area of our physical well-being is a little more difficult for me. I was raised with a belief that spending money on massages, manicures, and pedicures just wasn’t necessary. So even today, I find it hard sometimes to treat myself to those things because in the back of my mind I’m asking, “is this really necessary?” What I can tell you is this, taking care of ourselves and having massage therapy done reinvigorates our spirit and releases the creative energy that we need as entrepreneurs. Treating yourself to manicures and pedicures, and overall time to relax and enjoy yourself just makes you feel GOOD. When you FEEL good, you look good, and you carry yourself with confidence. Correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t confidence go a LOOONG way as an entrepreneur? You bet it does.

What are your thoughts on taking “me time” for exercise and relaxation? Is this something that you commonly do, or struggle to create the time for? Have you recognized any self-limiting beliefs in yourself around deserving “me time”?

I would love to get your feedback! I have posed a handful of questions for us to share our answers on. I think it’s beneficial to hear how other women view taking time for themselves to realize we aren’t alone in this balancing act and I’m sure we’ll all get some great tips from one another… so please share!

Have a beautiful day.

Sending you Love!

Amanda

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