You need to take care of yourself as a business owner because burn out is real. According to a national survey, 42% of small business owners said they have experienced burnout in the past month while 24% reported they are currently experiencing burnout.
When you work for yourself, nobody will tell you when to take breaks or log off for the day. You don’t have mandatory vacation leaves, sick leaves or personal time off. That’s why it’s really up to you to make sure that you’re taking care of your mental, emotional and physical health.
Here are some self-management habits that you should as a business owner:
Get and stay organized
It gets crazy working on your business but you don’t need to have super powers to get and stay organized.
Here’s a system that has worked for our chiropractic office: post-it notes, Google Keep, Google Calendar, and a digital notebook called reMarkable.
Post-it notes are for thoughts that occur to you during your consultation with a patient. You can write those thoughts down and go through them at the end of the day. Google Keep is perfect creating checklists. Google Calendar, on the other hand, will be your new best friend. Setting it up properly will help you get on top of things and stay organized throughout the day. Lastly, reMarkable takes the place of your actual notepads. It’s basically an iPad on a diet, without the distractions.
Take care of yourself
Always remember that you can’t pour from an empty cup. You can not take care of people if you are not taking care of yourself first.
So get enough sleep. Eat healthy. Exercise regularly and make it a priority. Don’t overwork yourself. Take breaks when you need them. Take time to enjoy life. Have fun with your hobbies or take up a new one! Choose your peace, always.
Your patients and your staff are important, you – the chiropractor and business owner – are just as important! You deserve to be a priority on your list, too!
Find a mentor or coach for accountability and guidance
Finding a mentor or coach is one of the best ways to ensure that your business is on track, and it can be done in a variety of ways. You might have friends or family who are willing to help you out in this way; if not, there are plenty of professional chiropractic coaches available. Either way, make sure that whoever you choose as your mentor has done what you want to do (or something similar) and has experience giving feedback and guidance in these situations.
Being a business owner can be lonely at times. As a chiropractor, you are not only responsible for other people’s health, but your staff also depends on you for their work. It can get overwhelming. Working with a chiropractic coach can help you navigate through rough patches and help you become more responsible.
Self-care is important for your mental health, but it’s also crucial to your chiropractic business. As a healthcare provider and business owner, you need to be able to provide excellent services.. If you don’t take breaks from work and engage in self-care activities that make you feel good, then it will be harder for you to stay on top of everything that needs doing.
When we’re stressed out or burned out from working too much or from feeling overwhelmed by our responsibilities, we become less productive over time because our bodies aren’t functioning at their best levels when they’re under stress and fatigue (or worse: exhaustion). If you’re feeling overwhelmed and stressed, it’s important to take action. You don’t have to do everything on this list at once. In fact, it’s best to start small and build up from there.
If you are feeling overwhelmed or need some guidance on how to become the best version of yourself in order to run your chiropractic business, I can definitely help! Book a free consultation with me and let’s start the conversation.