7 CEO Self-Care Habits You MUST Have to Scale Your Business

Chasing your dreams and building your business takes a ton of skill, execution, and energy. But it is crucial that in all of the forecasting, planning, and strategizing, that we take care of our most valuable assets. Ourselves!

It can be hard to balance work and your personal life. But the truth is, if you don't take care of yourself, then how can you expect to help others? In this blog post we'll cover 7 self-care habits that CEOs use in order to scale their businesses from a small company into a large enterprise. These strategies will help you stay centered and focused on what's most important--building your business for success.

1. Gratitude Journaling - A simple, daily habit you can have to help you re-align your perspective is gratitude journaling. Write down 3 things every day that you are grateful for. Ask yourself, "What am I grateful for right now?" throughout the day and write them all down at the end of the day. This simple task will help you create a balanced outlook as you go into your day.

2. Get enough sleep - Giving your mind and body the chance to recharge is crucial. Taking care of yourself isn't self-centered, it's self-preservation. The average person should be aiming for at least 7 hours of sleep per night. You can alter this based on what works best for you and your schedule, but the point is to get as much sleep, which means good healthy rest, as possible.

3. Take care of your mental health by practicing meditation and mindfulness - The benefits of self-care, in general, are probably well known by now. It's not self-centered to take care of yourself—in fact, self-preservation is the goal. But self-care takes on a new meaning when you look at it through the lens of mental health practices like meditation and mindfulness. Being intentional every single day when it comes to your mental health is crucial to center yourself and make sound decisions. Sometimes that means taking a few minutes, hours or days to recharge your mind and spirit.

4. Set time for family and friends - Intentionally setting aside time for your friends and family not only allows you to step away from work, but it also feeds our need to commune and be around other people. Building a business can be lonely, so make sure you get out from behind your computer and work on your "In Real Life" relationships.

5. Celebrate successes - celebrate the small wins that occur over the course of a day, week, month, year, etc., and use them as motivation for bigger achievements in the future (e.g., if I can get up early every morning without coffee then I know I can do anything!) Make it a habit to celebrate your victories, no matter how big or small.

6. Take a self-care vacation - self-care isn't always pretty and it doesn't have to be expensive. Taking a self-care vacation can be anything from going on a walk with your spouse to jetting off to Europe for two weeks. It's taking time away to "just be." It's unplugging and creating moments and memories that help you refocus.

7. Finally... take care of your physical health by getting regular exercise and eating well! Can benefit your mind, spirit and body. Most CEOs have sedentary jobs that have such a hold on on their attention that they forget to eat and drink water - let alone work out.

Self-care is a crucial part of running any business. You’ve got to do what you can to keep yourself healthy, happy and balanced if you want your company to thrive. We know self-care may not be the first thing on your mind when you think about being an entrepreneur, but it should be! If I had one piece of advice for entrepreneurs out there who are struggling with balancing work life and personal time, it would simply be this: don't neglect taking care of yourselves because the truth is that no matter how much success we have in our careers, unless we take care of ourselves now, all the success in the world won’t matter.

How are you being intentional about your self-care even as you scale your business?