From parents to entrepreneurs, teachers to nurses, doctors to electricians, first-responders to salespeople, everyone benefits when you step away from all other responsibilities, but yourself. I’m talking about making yourself a priority. Finding time to focus on your needs. No, putting your needs first sometimes does not mean you are a selfish and uncaring person. It means you are responsible and loving towards yourself and those you care for, on a personal or professional way.
When you don’t look after yourself, there comes a point where it becomes more difficult to look after others.
Knowing how and what to do to make yourself a priority can be overwhelming. We are here to help.
Check out our list of 7 daily activities, find what works best with lifestyle, and make yourself a priority:
1 – Include a morning ritual
Before you start your day, take 5 to 10 minutes each morning to recenter yourself.
Acknowledge and be grateful for your blessings, and set your intentions for the day. This can be accomplished through many ways like keeping a daily journal, a walk, a jog, yoga, stretching, mediation, breathing exercises…
Benefits: lessens stress, invokes a positive mindset, defines your progress with concrete actions.
2 – Add exercises to your day
Add a 15 minute exercise routine to your morning ritual and witness positive changes right away.
This morning commitment will benefit you throughout the day by making you feel good inside and out and by giving you that extra motivation and energy. You may not like doing it. Once you star, you may only wish for it to be over. But as soon as you’ll be done, you’ll know you made your wellbeing a priority. You’ll feel it right away.
If morning exercise is not your jam, include it in your lunch hour, or whatever time works best for you. But consistency is key here. Most importantly, over the course of the day, take 5 minutes breaks to move your body, get the blood flowing, the joints moving and the muscles activated.
Benefits: improves physical and mental health, increases confidence, makes you feel happy, helps you focus, gives energy.
3 – Get enough Sleep
Not sleeping enough can cause havoc on your physical and mental health.
1 in 3 people are sleep deprived, according to a Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Try getting to bed early enough so you get a good night’s rest, and late enough so you get to enjoy some quiet time alone or with someone you love. A few tricks on getting to bed early: avoid caffeinated drinks 6 hours before bed, have a regular sleep pattern, avoid exercising two hours before bed, avoid overeating and electronics one hour before bed.
Benefits: More productive, can perform tasks with more ease, mental clarity, reduces the risk of developing health issues.
4- Say no more often
One very important lesson we should all learn from young children is the art of saying NO!
When a child doesn’t want something, they simply say no, putting their needs first. Of course, as adults we are bound to responsibilities, but we can also create boundaries to allow more room for the things we love. Saying no gives you the chance to say yes to the things that matter most to you and build the life you’ve always wanted. Try it!
Benefits: more time to rest and accomplish your objectives so you can be the best version of yourself.
5 – Enjoy the things you love
Everyday, invest time to do one thing that you love and inspires you to be creative and playful.
Make time in your busy schedule for an activity you would love to do, like reading, dancing, drinking tea while bird watching on your porch, meeting friends, watching your favourite show. Prioritizing yourself by doing one of your favourite activities everyday will give you a sense a fulfillment and self-accomplishment that will alter your mindset and have a more positive attitude.
Benefits: Improves your mood, brings joy and positivity
6 – Stop wasting your precious time
Get rid of toxic habits that monopolize your time, and replace them
Identify key elements in your daily life that monopolize your time without benefiting you whatsoever.
For example, none stop email check-ins, store hopping instead of a one-stop shop, multitasking trivial tasks, not delegating, and excess social media consumption. A recent study published by Statista shows people ‘’spend more than two hours a day scrolling through their social media accounts.’’
To help you make better use of your time, start by determining your daily objectives by prioritizing what is essential versus what isn’t. Then, plan out how you will achieve these objectives.
Benefits: increases your chances of success, increases productivity, decreases procrastination.
7- Be kind to yourself
Practice daily self-compassion and give yourself permission to feel the you feel without judging and criticizing yourself. Talk to yourself as though you were 6 years old again, and choose words that will create peace in your mind and soul, and give you strength and courage. Forgive yourself, heal yourself, and embrace all of you. Flaws and beauties, pain and lessons. All of it!
Here are self-love affirmations to include in your morning ritual:
- I love myself no matter my flaws. I accept myself no matter my falls. I respect myself no matter who calls.
- I am smart. I am confident. I can face life challenges with grace and humility.
- I am loved. I am supported. I am respected by all those I love and care for.
- I will face my fears. I will never give up. I will always bet on myself first.
- I’ve made it through hard times before and came out wiser and kinder because of them.
Truthfully, we should all start our day by saying something positive about ourselves — out-loud and in our head. This would right away develop our self-worth, self-love and self-esteem. Can you imagine a world in which we all felt love and compassion towards ourselves, and how that love would reverberate in others, creating a domino effect of love?
Another way to be kind to yourself is to speak kindly about yourself when talking to others and to yourself. If someone offers you a compliment, respectfully respond with a thank you. Keep practicing this and you’ll start making it a habit to accept compliments without answering negatively. This helps you too also create the habit of saying nice things about yourself. Again, creating a domino effect of love.
Finally, stop putting pressure on yourself by trying to do everything all at once. We all struggle to find more time to tackle our indefinite and always pivoting list of things to do—this might actually be part of the problem.
Everyone is constantly searching for more time when, in fact, no one has a limitless amount of it, right? You were allocated a certain amount of time to live and breathe on earth. It is up to you to take the precious time you have and do the important things. Not waste your time with the things that don’t matter or positively impact your life.
Instead of the conquer all approach, start with a priority list. Find out what is really important, to the not-so-important things you need to do. You’ll soon learn to let go of the trivial stuff.
Benefits: mindset shift, invokes a positive mindset, lessens stress, promotes feeling good about yourself.
At the end of the day, find what works for you, and incorporate ways that will help you make yourself a priority and empower your mind, spirit, and body. Make it happen today by doing one positive thing for yourself.