February is love month. Right in the middle is Valentine’s Day. Aww, yes, a special day for lovers…
A day to celebrate romance, love, and a time to share affection for one another. Boy are we missing that these days. A hug would be nice right about now.
But the one person you need to hug most is you!
Why do I suggest that? Because as entrepreneurs, we are toughest on ourselves. We are our own worst critics, task masters, perfectionists, and I did not even talk about that voice inside that shouts really loudly, broadcasting limiting beliefs.
This February, hug those you love (your kids, spouse, or partner), but learn to hug you too! If you survived these past 11 months, you deserve a big, big hug.
Chances are you made changes to how you do business, or you closed your business altogether, or you learned new technology to get you up to speed in this digital world we are now in. Maybe you launched a podcast, wrote a book, but suffice to say you made adjustments and changes.
What you have done this year may not translate into sales yet, but boy you are on your way!
Learn and practice self-love this month of February.
Learn to be good to yourself, affirm yourself, and have an “I can do it” attitude as opposed to a “You’re not good enough” negative voice.
If that negative voice were a radio station, you would have turned it off ages ago!
Being good to ourselves is like taking care of you; you would listen to smooth jazz, have a romantic lunch break with healthy food, mineral water, then whisper sweet nothings in your own ear (affirm yourself), and pat yourself on the back for getting things done.
It is important that you get this message.
If you are going to succeed this year, treat yourself well and with respect. Do not diminish yourself. Do not discount your value, your worth, your sweat, your sleepless nights. Do not put others ahead of yourself—respect yourself.
When you begin to take care of you, you can take care of others.
Practice self-love
In a business context, this is vital… if you do not take care of you, who will?
Self stands for this…
S-Sleep and rest when you need to rest. Studies show that we need sleep time to dream and to have our sub-conscious do some heavy lifting in our sleep time… so sleep is cool, rest is good.
E-Exercise, keep fit, and take care of your temple—it will energize you! You will feel better and change your moods when you get physical…guaranteed. Plus, you will have pep in your step and more energy to do great work!
L-Learn new things to help you be better at what you do! The research shows that companies that invest in learning do better. Case in point, the Container Store spends over 200 hours training their people and the results are outstanding.
So is the customer experience as a result because the employees are empowered and feel valued.
F-Focus on a plan to get off social media or let go of time wasters, maybe even limit time wasting to three 20-minute sessions per day and that is that! Focus on the things that enrich your life and business…
Love stands for this… in a self-love, business, and personal growth context
L-Learn to let go…let go of negative people, clients, beliefs, and anything that doesn’t fill you up. This does not mean that is that; it just means you do not invest so much into these things/people and/or thoughts.
O-Outsource, learn to outsource some work so you can focus on the things that you are good at. Books like the E-Myth Revisited talk about “working on the business not in it”. What this means is you must adopt a new approach to involve others in it, so you are not bogged down in the “Minute” details of it all.
Coach Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy talk about this in the new book Who, not how! They suggest the reason business owners procrastinate is that the goal is so big, that it keeps them from acting. You need a who, or people who can help you get the job done!
V-Visualize. Basketball coach Phil Jackson, who coached the Chicago Bulls in the Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen era, was known as the “Zen” coach—he would lead visualizations and meditations on the court with the team. In other words, they saw themselves winning before they won! Practice seeing your success.
E-Evolve: be open to change, the new, to learn, to try new things. Evolve, grow, shift, and be all you can be!
Self-Love. In this month of Love, do not hold back!
