A Healthy Work-at-home Lifestyle (WAH Series)
Are You Living a Healthy Lifestyle?
Recently I have been impressed to shift gears slightly and talk about health and lifestyle as it applies to those of you with the deep entrepreneurial spirit. The topic – creating a healthy work-at-home lifestyle – is a fundamental part of my personal philosophy.
My professional life has been a mix of working for others, corporate consulting under the umbrella of others, consulting on my own from my home office and finally joining the internet marketing community (from home, of course).
There have been so many lessons, knowing where to start in sharing them with you is the biggest challenge. So, I decided to start with a topic that is often overlooked: How to be happy and healthy as you run your business from home.
Please, don’t be quick to brush it off and think that what I have to say is simply fluff. It is not! It puts context around what you are doing, or are about to do, and can make a huge difference in how your life plays out from this point forward.
The Transition to a Healthy Work-at-Home Lifestyle
You have been thinking about “being your own boss” for a long time, or at least finding a way to “work at home.” Finally, it has happened. You are transitioning or about to begin the transition.
As you begin this new adventure there are pitfalls and opportunities to consider – both lifestyle and monetary.
The media has created a mythical idea of what life will be when you work at home – one of great joy and laughter, family time in abundance, and a completely relaxed lifestyle with plenty of time to take good care of yourself.
It CAN be that way . . . but, for many who travel this road, it is just the opposite. They go into financial distress, their health begins to suffer, and happiness seems to become a quickly diminishing glimmer of hope at the end of a long tunnel. In fact, for some their lives are not as good as they were when they were working for the “MAN.”
My hope for you is that your new work-at-home lifestyle will be a satisfying and positive experience – not a decision that you regret.
Regardless of your stage of transition, whether you are just getting ready to make the switch, have recently made the change, or have been working for yourself for a few weeks, or months – you can develop a plan that will give you the ultimate reward: satisfaction and happiness in your new world
Over the next few postings, we are going to look at the basics that must be included in your plan beginning with the most important factor of all.
Take Care of Yourself
If you are not healthy, energetic and reasonably happy, you will not be very effective as a parent, a spouse, or serving your customers/clients – and you won’t be much good for yourself either.
As your own boss, YOU are the one who makes it all happen, so you must put self-care as a top priority. On the other hand, don’t go to the opposite extreme and make self-care the only priority. 🙂
Taking care of yourself should not be something you plan to do when you have time. The foundation of taking care of yourself is to enjoy what you are doing, while you are going it. In other words – HAVE FUN!
Enjoy the Adventure
You made a decision to start a new phase of your life, so why not enjoy the process. When you have fun and laugh a lot (even if sometimes it is at yourself), you lessen the stress factor . . . with lower stress comes higher productivity . . . and with higher productivity comes greater results.
There are other important health factors such as healthy eating, adequate rest, and regular exercise that should be part of your lifestyle (and we will talk about those); but, never forget the FUN factor.
It is vitally important to experience the sheer joy of working for yourself – to look forward to getting out of bed every day so you can have the time of your life doing what you love to do.
When your work and working environment are pleasant and fun, you can’t get enough of it. Work that “lights your fire” and keeps you smiling is not work at all. BUT, if it is something you dread and struggle through minute-by-minute, day-after-day, eventually you will be drained of energy and the temptation to quit will probably win out!
In the next few posts we are going to cover the four basic pillars of a healthy work-at-home lifestyle – eating, moving, smiling, and sleeping.
Be sure to join us!
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