By Georgina El Morshdy It’s exciting to think about hitting a big goal or getting to a date in your calendar that you’re excited about. Our ability to dream and imagine is one of the most powerful tools we have as a human. We’re able to visualize possible futures and fantasize about how life could feel if only we could make these desires a reality.   It’s a balancing act. If you live too much in the future, you miss out on the here and now - and that’s a problem. In the words of spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle, “The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That’s all there ever is.” This idea is supported by many other teachers too.  Zig Ziglar stresses the importance of the journey too. He said, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” And Wayne Dyer said, “Your relationship with the now is your relationship with life.”  It leaves us with a question. How can you make the most of the present moment to experience more success, fulfillment, and happiness in life?  Here are THREE powerful techniques to try.  1. Practice mindfulness Mindfulness is about increasing your awareness of the present moment by noticing your thoughts, feelings, and body sensations and being ‘ok’ with what is.  When we’re mindful of the present, we’re aware of what’s occurring in the moment. In turn, we increase our personal power. When you can engage with the now and sink into the experience without judgement or distraction, you can unlock more peace, calm, and clarity.  But it’s not always easy!  The average human has around 70,000 thoughts per day. Our brains can be extraordinarily chatty and noisy; it can take time and practice to quieten the mind so you can feel the peace within.  But the benefits are proven… If you cut the amount of time you spend worrying about the past and the present, you can put all your energy into what’s truly happening NOW.  In turn, you can make better decisions as well as unlock more creativity. You can benefit from as little as 10 minutes of mindfulness practise a day. To help you cultivate this powerful habit, we created a 31-day mindfulness challenge. Thousands of people have taken this challenge so far. Now you can join them.  2. Check in with your Core values Making impactful decisions is an essential skill for your best self to master.  Every moment is an opportunity to make a new choice - the question is, in what direction will you head?  Checking in with your Core Values is a powerful practice that can help you make decisions aligned with the things you care about most. The more life you live in alignment with your Core Values, the happier you’ll feel - because more of your time will feel purposeful.  Let me show you how this works… Let’s say it’s the weekend and you haven’t yet made plans. You know you want to do something, but you’re not sure what. Your Core Values can give you an insight into what choice will make you happiest. For example, if you have a Core Value of ‘ADVENTURE’, you might enjoy taking a spontaneous road trip. If you have a Core Value of ‘GROWTH,’ you’ll probably get a lot of satisfaction attending an event or reading a book that opens a new level of thinking. The more you know yourself and what makes you tick, the more you can navigate life in a way that feels best.  You can discover your Core Values with the help of the Core Values Deck.  3. Reflect in your journal  Reflection is a powerful tool that can ground you in the present moment. When you get real with what is, you feel inspired to take responsibility for your life and control it. Sometimes, we can overlook things we know we need to resolve. It’s easier to push them off for another time rather than biting the bullet and jumping in.  Your journal is a safe space that can hold you - whatever you need to express and reveal.  The act of writing things out can be cathartic and releasing. With your truth revealed, there’s no more hiding or denying. Instead, you empower yourself into a position where you can decide in the moment powerfully.  Journaling also helps you connect to that deeper part inside that has all the answers. When you’re able to access your inner wisdom, you’ll likely uncover insights, ideas, and decisions that will help you take your next steps with more clarity and ease.  Check out this podcast to discover six reflective practices that you can explore in your journal NOW.   Alice Morse Earle said, “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”  How will YOU make the best use of this present moment? I hope the ideas in this article have given you some ideas to explore.

"The human capacity for burden is like bamboo - far more flexible than you'd ever believe at first glance." - Jodi Picoult. With so much uncertainty, it’s not surprising that stress and anxiety levels are on the rise. Now, more than ever, we need to take care of our mental and emotional health.  The good news is there’s always something you can do to change the way you feel - even if that feeling only lasts a short time.  One thing you can try is mindful living - a practice that can help relieve stress and calm anxiety.  Let me show you how… What is mindful living?  Mindful living is about being focused in the present moment - something that’s not as easy as it sounds.  If you could step outside of your body and observe how you move through your day, you’d see that you spend a lot of it either thinking about the past or rushing to the future. Instead of being in the moment, you’re stressing about the argument you had with your kids over breakfast, or you’re anxious about how tomorrow’s pitch will go.  You’d also notice how distracted you are…  From the constant pings of email notifications to the stream of social updates, your environment is waiting to pull you out of the moment.  And that’s not to mention the 100s of daily decisions that take up bandwidth! It’s a problem because when you’re disconnected from the moment, you feel ungrounded. In turn, your stress and anxiety levels rise.  Mindful living practices can help you combat this… Five ways to practice mindful living 1. Mindful meditation.  Detached from the present moment, even a few minutes of deep presence can be overwhelming. In the silence, you notice how much your mind races with its estimated 50,000 thoughts a day!  Over time, mindful meditation can help you feel comfortable sitting with what is.  The goal with meditation is just to be.  Don’t try to switch off your thoughts entirely. A silent mind is hard to create - especially if you’re new to meditation. Trying to be ‘perfect’ will quickly turn you off your practice! Instead, every time you notice yourself getting lost in thought, bring your awareness back to your breath.  As a busy person, you may wonder if daily meditation is a realistic goal for you. The good news is that even a short practice can leave you feeling calmer and focused.  The BestSelf Co. free mindfulness challenge is a great place to start. 2. Start a gratitude practice.  A daily gratitude practice has been a pillar of BestSelf Co. right from the beginning.  As we studied the secrets of high-performers, we realized that gratitude was a practice many people swore by - and for a good reason.  Gratitude guides you to notice and appreciate the things you have in your life right now. Regardless of what’s happening in your life, there’s always something to appreciate. For example, you can choose to notice the breeze in your hair, your coffee’s aroma, or how the paper feels under your pen. As a presence practice, gratitude also cultivates a sense of positivity as you become aware of how plentiful and abundant your life already is.  And because gratitude sparks feelings of positivity and abundance, it’s a practice that makes you happier too.  3. Journal Journaling is a powerful way to slow down your thoughts enough so that you can observe them and work through them. Through journaling, you get to be curious about what’s happening for you - in any given moment - and in the process extract wisdom, insight, and personal power. Journaling can also help you understand the resistance you have to sitting in the present moment. For example, you can:  • Explore your worries and fears • Work through the reason you still feel triggered or upset by a past event • Get clarity over a decision that’s keeping you distracted • Get curious about the things you do to keep you from the present - such as comfort eating, flicking through social media, or lighting a cigarette • Explore what you’re feeling - and why Journaling is mindful because instead of allowing your thoughts to take on a life of their own, you get to extract them from your head and put them on paper. This can give you clarity and closure. It can help calm your mind too because sometimes when you read back your thoughts, you’re able to make better sense of them.  The net result of emptying your head is more bandwidth and less clutter.  In turn, it becomes more comfortable to sit with yourself in the moment. [For more journaling tips, prompts, and interviews, check out the Writing Your Best Self podcast].  4. Lose yourself in creativity Whether your jam is writing, playing music, painting, dance, or something else, there’s something beautiful about losing yourself in creativity.  When you get into a flow state, time becomes irrelevant, and all distractions disappear.  Instead, you’re absorbed in your imagination. You align with your creative essence, and that magic moves your body in beautiful ways or turns a blank piece of paper into a work of art.  When you’re lost in your ideas, any fear evaporates; replaced with a willingness to take risks, explore new techniques, and push your limits.  In this beautiful state of presence, nothing else matters - and any thoughts of anxiety or stress are long forgotten.  5. Quit the multi-tasking  Multitasking is a myth. What you class as multitasking is actually your brain rapidly switching from one task to another.  Multitasking can drain unnecessary energy because the constant task switching causes your brain to jump from one point of focus to another.  In the process, you can get distracted.  Far better to focus on one task at a time - and lose yourself inside of it. As you give everything to that one task, you’re able to dive deeper into it. Magic can happen when this deep work is allowed because you uncover new ideas. You make more imaginative connections. You do better work.  And you’re more productive and creative too!  A one task rule also makes you more present. Instead of worrying about what you’re going to do next [or stressing about how you’ll fit everything in], you can get your head down.  You can start mindful living now You don’t have to spend your entire day in mindful living - although you can if you want!  The beauty of this practice is you can start small - and build on it.  For example, you can start with five minutes of gratitude a day or a 20-minute journaling session. Or you can weave in a 10-minute mindfulness practice after lunch - whatever works for you.  The rewards are clear.  The more you embrace the present moment, the more your stress and anxiety levels have the chance to fall.  What mindful living practices will you start today?

September is Self-Improvement Month, which sets a great reminder that taking care of yourself is a vital part of feeling your best and living a life that you’re proud of. Self-improvement can happen in the form of self-care, and can be implemented in many forms, including physical, mental and emotional practices. Each derives a different area of improvement that is associated with your body’s performance and mental health and can bring you to a stronger and healthier state of mind. Self-care involves participating in an activity that boosts your overall well-being. These can be things that you enjoy doing on a daily basis, like reading, drawing or going for a walk. Everyone’s self-care regimen is different based on lifestyle and personal preferences, but just as long as you’re incorporating the things that make you feel like your best into a schedule, you’re leading yourself to a happier and more well-rounded version of yourself. Although Self-Improvement Month is within a specific timespan, this does not mean that you need to reach every single self-care goal you’ve set for yourself within one month, or go back to an old or unhealthy way of life after the month is over. Instead, it gives you an opportunity to kickstart self-improvement goals that can be reached over a longer period of time. Yes, it’s possible to have a “glow up” within 30 days, but realistically it could take years for an individual to properly prioritize personal care and recognize their self-worth depending on their life experiences. To learn more about what you can do to spark a self-care transformation, here are some tips to follow: Start a Writing Journal Journaling your daily thoughts can help you reflect on both the positive and negative situations you’re enduring in your life. This is especially beneficial if it’s challenging for you to communicate to others about what you’re going through. Writing improves your mood, calms the body and helps you identify the frequency of certain thoughts that are heavy on your mind. Journaling is an extremely beneficial self-care technique. It helps to clear your mind of self-doubt and gives you time to reflect on certain life experiences while taking a deeper dive into your emotions. What you write about can be anything you want it to be. As long it helps you improve your mental, emotional and spiritual wellness, you can count this self-care regimen as a success. According to Penzu, it’s important to set a time for how long you want to write. Ideally, this should be between 5-20 minutes, and done consistently throughout the week in a quiet, non-distracting space where you can relax and focus. If it helps, put your smartphone or laptop in another room to avoid hopping on social media or answering phone calls and text messages. If you need a background noise to be able to write to the best of your ability, there are plenty of zen playlists on Apple Music or Spotify that you can utilize. Depending on your music preferences, you can also customize a playlist for journaling so you’re listening to some of your favorite tunes when you write. Begin a New Hobby Hobbies are a great way to get yourself involved in the community, and an even more fantastic way to meet new people. It might be helpful to look online for organizations and teams that are in need of assistance. This could be within recreational sports groups, volunteering services and classes that are hosted by people who are passionate about providing to society. You can join Facebook groups based on your interests and chat up individuals who have been involved to get a glimpse into their experience. Knowing that you are involved in the things that you enjoy participating in or giving back to creates a spread of positivity change, resulting in a more powerful self-reflection and appreciation for your own personal growth. During the time of COVID-19, it may be difficult to find a hobby that is open to the public depending on where you’re from, but at-home hobbies can be just as fun and simple. If you're a crafty person, start a small-business to spread your creativeness to others. If you enjoy fitness, find online yoga or exercise classes to improve your physical health. Do you like spending time outside? Find local hikes to visit when you want to be in nature, or build and maintain your own garden to have fresh foods available nearby when you want to cook a nutritious meal. This might take a few trials to find exactly what you enjoy, but once you do, you’ll find that you’re happier and involved with people with common interests. Dive Into Your Finances Financial health can be a trigger to emotional and mental stress, as without a saving and spending system in place for your personal finances, it can make you feel overwhelmed that you won’t have enough in your checking account to provide for yourself. Due to the challenges that could be associated with underlying money management issues, like late bill payments or overspending, it’s important to incorporate personal finances into your self-care routine. Ultimately, we want to have full control over our finances, and to be able to comfortably create short- and long-term financial goals. But when you’re not organized, your mental health could take a toll and result in depression, anxiety or even anger.Developing financial habits isn’t a simple walk in the park at first. It takes time to learn how to organize your bills, create a spending plan and to properly invest your money. Whether this stress is coming from your source of income or poor financial wellness, there are many resources that can help you self-improve and adjust to a better financially friendly lifestyle. With smartphones completely taking over today’s world with apps, information and digital tools, financial-technology is boosting in popularity and giving people a savvy way of managing their finances. Along with expense tracking apps and personal budget software’s, there are app-based banking solutions without a credit check that can help you manage your money regardless of how challenging your financial situation is and how far along you are with developing a self-care routine. By utilizing your mobile device for organization, you can simply access thousands of resources meant to reduce money-related stress and anxiety from anywhere, and in seconds.  Participate in Random Acts of Kindness To cultivate kindness is to create a positive environment for yourself and those around you. When individuals view you as someone who spreads good vibes and remains calm through difficult situations, they are more likely to emulate your behavior—creating even more generosity among a wider population. There are many ways you can participate in random acts of kindness, even something as simple as complimenting another person goes a very long way. Other options include sending a card to a friend showing your appreciation for them, making a donation to a cause that you’re passionate about and even treating someone to a coffee or lunch once in a while. Spreading kindness doesn’t have to be anything extravagant, but rather a simple conversation or plan to show your family, friends and others that you care. Read or Listen to Podcasts Self-help and motivational books consist of tips and tricks that can help you improve certain areas of your life. Depending on your topic preferences, you can find books for almost every subject—from relationship advice, to nutrition and exercise, to career growth. Reading about the parts of your life that you want to improve on can give you additional insight into more ideas that can help you achieve your goals, and even reading books on the same subject by different authors can give you numerous perspectives too.  Podcasts are another great outlet for self-improvement advice. These can be found on music subscription websites like Spotify or Apple Music, or on blogs and other media outlets that provide personal wellness content. Podcasts can be listened to while you’re working, driving in the car, hiking or even when you’re hanging out around the house. If you’re struggling to find one that you like, ask other people about what they’ve listened to, or read reviews online about what others have to say about certain podcasters and how they frame their conversations. Some individuals talk about personal topics and life experiences, while others share general information and life tips. Don’t be afraid to listen to a preview before following a podcaster to ensure you know that it will be something you enjoy. Sustain a Daily Routine  Beginning your day with something productive, health-oriented or an activity that brings you joy is imperative to maintain. Mornings are a crucial part of your daily routine because what you do with the first few hours of your day can depict how the rest of your afternoon and evening play out in terms of your productivity and mood. Start with something simple like waking up and going to bed at a consistent time to keep yourself on a better sleeping schedule. Eating healthy meals is another vital part of feeling your best on a daily basis. Avoid skipping one to keep your energy levels high and to avoid head and stomach aches from a lack of nutrition.  In terms of organizing your daily schedule, use a planner to map out the hours of your day and check off each completed task to visualize your success.  Using colored pens, sticky notes and labels can bring more creativity and organization to your planner, and can make it easier for you to categorize the different components of your routine, such as exercise, meals and work related tasks. If you’d rather use a digital method to craft and keep track of your plans, look into calendar apps or other internet services that provide online planners that are compatible with all phone providers. In some cases, these apps can be used on a laptop, phone and tablet, which extends your ability to use them across all of your devices. Self-Improvement Month is the perfect time to envision, create and share a new and improved version of yourself. This process doesn’t have to happen overnight, and can take some time. The more you focus on yourself, for yourself, the better you’ll feel about the person you are becoming.

As someone who began practicing daily meditation about one year ago, I can attest that this practice can greatly improve productivity and career advancement. Meditation, when practiced readily, can remedy common and repetitive issues within professional life. As someone who began practicing daily meditation about one year ago, I can attest that this practice can greatly improve productivity and career advancement. Meditation, when practiced readily, can remedy common and repetitive issues within professional life. Before beginning to meditate daily, I struggled with procrastination, lack of focus, lackluster consistency of work product, poor time management and deficiency when handling stressful situations. A lack of mental clarity, which you might need to experience to fully understand, was similarly problematic. However, within a few weeks of finding my own daily meditation groove, these issues began to subside.After reading this article, we’re confident you’ll agree that daily meditation can help you reach your goals. You will also be able to take away suggestions regarding how to begin and stay on track. What does meditation do? Daily meditation is not something that will cause you to get rich quick. Its benefits do not reveal themselves after the first session, or even the first week, at least not very obviously. It is, on the other hand, an exercise that possesses as many advantages as the number of its practitioners.According to the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, 8 percent of Americans, or roughly 18 million individuals, meditate in the United States as of 2012.I can easily argue that over time, this practice dramatically improved my focus and productivity at work. Especially when I was able to determine the types of guided meditations that worked best for me. Some of the practical benefits I experienced within the first month of daily meditation included:Deeper self knowledge and clarity, leading to more accurate and self-honest planning,Improved time management through far better performance in the face of stressful or high-pressure situations.Mental clarity that elevated the quality of work product I put forth, specifically when it came to writing challenging articles.Research has shown that meditation can yield these and many other benefits among its loyal practitioners, so let’s back some of these arguments with factual evidence. How meditation can help you work better Meditation’s advantages are so often associated with purely health or spiritual applications. It can be difficult to see the practice as a career-driving force. Meditation’s impacts on the brain and their subsequent affectations of practitioners can help to understand its benefits in this context.Here are a few findings of note:According to the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, a comparative study of meditators versus non-meditators found that the former group had “more folds in the outer layer of the brain,” which can indicate elevated mental capacity.The Washington Post interviewed Harvard Medical School neuroscientist Sara Lazar, who saw greater quantities of gray matter in certain parts of the brain among consistent meditators compared to control groups. She told The Post that another study revealed a thicker left hippocampus among meditators – a region associated with cognition, among other mental processes.An analysis of more than 18,000 studies that was published in JAMA Internal Medicine revealed that regular meditation can be used in efforts to reduce stress and other maladies in clinical patients.There are countless studies out there that either show the benefits of meditation, but what’s most important is whether meditation works for you. Whether you’re looking to improve your self-control during stressful moments on the job or strengthen your focus during major presentations, daily meditation may be your answer - but you’ll need to experiment to see how it works for you. How to get started with meditation First and foremost, you’ll only see the full benefits of meditation if you develop a routine around it & make it a habit. The idea is to train your brain, or even rewire it, to benefit your professional self, and that result will be unlikely at best if you do not establish a strong routine.I found that meditating right after my morning exercise worked best for me. Perhaps the afternoon or evening would work better for you. The type of meditation that you choose to practice will also determine the time of day that will be most effective. Mindfulness meditation, which focuses on the separation of the emotional, chemical and thoughtful elements of the psyche, worked best for me. The practice eliminated procrastination, improved focus and instilled more consistency into my work product throughout the week. With respect to intervals, 10-30 minutes, six days a week, has become my sweet spot of sorts.Notably, the benefits have snowballed over time, and I’ve gotten more mental clarity or an inability to handle stressful situations in stride for several months now. Those subtle changes led to a higher quality of output in fewer hours on the job. That led to improved work-life balance, better sleep and more satisfaction out of life.Since this is about self-improvement, you will need to determine the style, frequency and timing of meditation that works best for you. Keep in mind that daily meditation can prove to be that one practice that is minimally time-consuming and massively beneficial. Is meditation working for me? Meditation triggers slow, subtle changes in your mind and body. It’s important to track your progress to notice the benefits. This is especially important in the early stages when it can get discouraging when you don’t see benefits immediately. This is often where people drop off of their daily habit.Build a streak by checking off the days you meditate to help with building your daily habit. It can also be helpful to track the amount of time you meditate each day alongside your recordings of productivity. Then you will be able to compare and contrast with the right types of data at hand.Many meditation apps also offer tracking features (such as Headspace, Insight Timer and Stop, Breathe & Think) and take the least amount of effort to keep up with consistently.  As is the case with any attempt to improve the self, you will get what you put into meditation. Give meditation an honest shot - as mentioned above, the minimal time commitment can make a massive difference. Work to find your groove and keep with it over time, and you will see the rewards for yourself. Sources https://nccih.nih.gov/research/statistics/NHIS/2012/mind-body/meditationhttps://nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation/overview.htmhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/05/26/harvard-neuroscientist-meditation-not-only-reduces-stress-it-literally-changes-your-brain/?utm_term=.8c2eb5d5134ehttps://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1809754http://mindworks.org/meditation-knowledge/top-10-celebrities-who-meditate/https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320392.phphttp://news.mit.edu/2011/meditation-0505https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170822104855.htmhttp://time.com/4645363/mindfulness-meditation-stress-anxiety-resilience/

Getting sick is one of the biggest productivity killers out there. It’s one thing when you lack motivation the complete your goals — there are strategies you can use to overcome that. But the only thing you can do when you’re sick is to seek medical treatment and wait for your health and wellness to improve. In the process, you can potentially lose days of productive time that you can never get back. As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And that’s what we’re going to cover in this article: how to boost your health and wellness so that you keep from getting sick in the first place. We’ll adopt a holistic approach to health and wellness, considering mental health as well as physical. As anyone who’s struggled with mental illness knows, it’s just as serious and debilitating as any physical illness. 1. Keep Your Immune System Strong Keeping your immune system healthy will protect you from common illnesses like the flu and the common cold. We recommend the following to keep your body’s natural defenses at their best: Get Plenty of Sleep Sleep isn’t just crucial for feeling alert and being able to perform at your best. It’s also when your body repairs and strengthens itself for the day to come. When you don’t get enough sleep, your body doesn’t produce as many infection-fighting antibodies, leaving you vulnerable to viruses and increasing the amount of time it takes for you to recover if you do get sick. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that healthy adults get 7-9 hours of sleep per night. However, the amount that’s right for you will vary and is very personal. One person might feel well-rested after six hours, while another might need as many as 10 (particularly if performing high levels of physical activity). You should experiment to see how much you need to feel well-rested and aim for whatever that number is. You can even use your daily journal to track how the amount of sleep you get affects your health and productivity over time. Take Breaks to Reduce Stress Excessive stress can weaken your immune system, particularly over time. Therefore, it’s critical that you limit the amount of stress you’re under as much as possible, or at least find healthy ways to manage the stress you experience. One of the best ways to reduce stress is to give yourself a break. Instead of grinding away at a project for hours on end, step away from it every hour or so. The exercise is good for your body, of course, but the mental break will also do wonders for lowering your stress levels and giving you time to think through the project. Go Easy on the Antibacterial Products While we’re not going to tell you to stop washing your hands, there is a point at which you can be too concerned about germs, killing the good bacteria with the bad. That’s right — there is such a thing as “good” bacteria. These good bacteria live in and on our bodies, helping to crowd out harmful bacteria and maintain equilibrium. However, when you go overboard with hand sanitizers or other antibacterial products, you can disrupt this delicate equilibrium. Therefore, we recommend using them only when you’ve been exposed to something that harbors harmful bacteria, such as live animals or waiting room chairs at the doctor’s office. 2. Schedule Annual Checkups How you feel is an accurate barometer for your personal health, but you should also consult with a healthcare professional to make sure you don’t have any undiagnosed health issues without obvious symptoms. An annual checkup is the best way to do this. Find a doctor with whom you can be open about the current state of your health and lifestyle. Make sure you feel comfortable asking honest questions about your health. Going to the doctor isn’t fun, but doing it once a year can help you avoid more serious medical conditions that could impact your productivity over the longer term. 3. Take Mental Health Seriously We’ve been talking a lot so far about stereotypical “physical” illnesses, but mental illnesses deserve just as much attention. Depression, for example, can make it harder to work than many physical illnesses, and it can go on for much longer. Therefore, it’s crucial that you view your mental and behavioral health with the same priority as your physical health. If you are struggling with a mental health concern, then you should seek out counseling services or another mental health professional to advise you on treatment options. 4. Consult Reliable Sources for Health Information Since health is such a major concern for everyone alive, the amount of health information is vast, especially online. While more information might seem like a positive thing, the reality is that the overproduction of health-related online content can make it difficult to separate the accurate information from the inaccurate and pseudoscientific. To be sure that you’re getting the best information possible, we recommend that you only consult reliable public health resources. Here are some of the best: Mayo Clinic — Mayo Clinic is a network of nonprofit hospitals that specialize in treating rare medical conditions. Their website contains a vast breadth of reliable health information on both health and wellness. CDC — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have accurate, up-to-date information on a variety of health conditions, including symptoms and tips for prevention. MentalHealth.gov — A mental health resource from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with information on symptoms of common mental health conditions and how to get free help. 5. Seek Professional Medical Care When Necessary Even when you’re doing your best to stay well, illnesses and injuries are a part of life. In these cases, you should seek out professional medical care as soon as you can. Don’t let a minor illness get out of hand — better to consult a doctor about it early on than to have it spiral into something that takes you out of work for weeks. We know it can be tempting to put off going to the doctor, especially if you’re an entrepreneur paying for your own insurance coverage (which could come with higher deductibles). But your health is of immeasurable value — don’t neglect it because of financial concerns. Preserve Your Health and Wellness We hope that the strategies we’ve discussed in this article will help you maintain the health and wellness that are so essential to your professional success and overall quality of life. As we mentioned in the previous section, you should always consult a medical professional when it comes to health concerns — take online resources (like this article) as a general guide only. Wishing you good health!

In order to be your best self, you need to consider the many dimensions of wellness that contribute to holistic health. We often think of our “wellness” just in terms of physical health. If your body is healthy, then you’re well. But thinking in this way limits you from reaching your full potential as a person. While your physical health is essential, wellness is about so much more. In fact, there are seven commonly accepted dimensions of wellness in the health community. Let’s explore each dimension and how you can improve on them. Physical Wellness Your physical wellness is essential, make no mistake. If your physical health is less than optimal, your happiness, performance and overall well-being will suffer. It’s all too easy to neglect physical wellness in the pursuit of your goals, thinking of your body as just a machine whose output you can maximize. But in reality, your body does not work like this. You can push it for a bit, sure, but eventually it will break, resulting in lost productivity due to illness. Therefore, we recommend that you make your physical wellness a priority, never sacrificing it to get work done. To maintain a high level of physical wellness, you should make sure to do the following: Eat a Balanced Diet Proper nutrition is key to physical wellness. We know it’s tempting to live on a diet of processed carbs and caffeine when you’re rushing to finish a big project, but this isn’t a sustainable way to operate. Your specific diet will depend on your dietary preferences and amount of physical activity. But in general, we recommend eating a diet composed of whole foods, especially vegetables and fruits. Also, drink plenty of water, as it’s easy to get dehydrated without realizing it. Carry a water bottle with you to make this easy. Perform Daily Physical Activity We prefer “physical activity” to “exercise,” as the idea of exercising can conjure up images of running on a treadmill or lifting weights for many. While these are fine forms of physical activity, you don’t have to limit yourself to them. Do something that you actually enjoy, whether it’s dancing, bike riding, kayaking or just taking walks outside. The goal is to stay active on a daily basis — the details matter less than you think. Get Regular Medical Checkups No one likes going to the doctor, but going to annual checkups is a good practice to get into, even if you feel perfectly healthy. Find a doctor you can talk with openly, discussing any health concerns or questions you have. Get Enough High Quality Sleep Sleep is perhaps the easiest area of the dimensions of wellness to neglect. The less you sleep, the more time you have to get work done, right? Wrong. While sleeping less will give you more total time to work, the quality of your work will start to suffer if you’re not sleeping enough. Furthermore, not getting enough sleep can wreak havoc on your immune system and physical recovery, resulting in illness that slows you down even further. Therefore, you need to prioritize sleep, planning to get at least seven to eight hours per night — more if you’re doing a demanding exercise routine. You should also ensure that the sleep you do get is high quality. Don’t lie in your bed with your phone or computer until you drift off to sleep. Rather, give yourself time to unplug and relax before bed. If you’re having trouble falling asleep, try making your room darker and make sure you aren’t drinking caffeine or alcohol too close to when you go to bed. Emotional Wellness Moving on to the next dimension, we have emotional wellness. This aspect of dimensions of wellness is one that people discuss fairly often, but it still doesn’t get as much attention as physical wellness. This is a shame, because your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Whether you’re struggling with everyday issues such as stress or something more serious such as chronic depression, neglecting your emotional wellness can make it difficult for you to do your best work. Here are some things to keep in mind to boost your emotional wellness: Share Feelings Talking to someone else about how you feel can be difficult, but it’s often the first step to improving your mental health. It’s easy to keep how you feel bottled up inside, not realizing what you’re struggling with until you discuss it aloud with someone else. Monitor Your Self-Esteem Self-esteem is crucial as an entrepreneur. You have to believe in yourself in order to provide a strong foundation for your business activities. Therefore, you should keep an eye on your self-esteem. Watch out for negative self-talk. Everyone doubts themselves at times — that’s natural. But you can’t let it stop you from getting out there and doing your best work. Spiritual Wellness People often associate the term “spiritual” with religion, but the two are not the same thing. You can be spiritual without being religious. The spiritual dimension of your life may involve a religious faith, but it can also just be the values and principles that guide your life and work. When you have high spiritual well-being, it means that your daily actions are in line with your larger beliefs, religious or not. To keep your spiritual wellness up along with the other dimensions of wellness, here’s what we recommend: Practice Self-Reflection Regular self-reflection will help you monitor whether your daily actions are in line with your larger beliefs. You can do a variety of activities, but the one we most strongly recommend is keeping a journal. Daily journaling will help you track patterns in your thoughts and feelings, as well as clarifying and reaffirming what your beliefs are. Try Meditation You may associate meditation with religions such as Buddhism, but meditation can benefit you no matter what your religious beliefs are. It doesn't have to be long or elaborate, either. Just taking a few minutes each day to sit still in silence and clear your mind will give you a greater sense of peace and a higher degree of focus. To learn more about how meditation can benefit you and how to get started, check out our meditation guide. Social Wellness Social wellness acknowledges that humans are not solitary creatures by nature. Even if you’re more on the introverted side, you still need to connect with other people in order to maintain your well-being. When your social wellness is high, you have a series of strong relationships with family members, friends, coworkers and your broader community. You have a network of people you can depend on in times of adversity, knowing that you don’t have to go it alone. Here are some things you can do to nurture your social wellness: Maintain Healthy Relationships Healthy relationships are built on trust, respect and kindness. They’re the relationships that build you up, not tear you down. And they’re balanced. If one relationship is consuming your time at the expense of other relationships, it’s definitely not healthy. Make Time for People It’s easy to get so focused on your work that you don’t spend time with your family, never go out with your friends and isolate yourself from your community. We’re all about being focused on your business, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of your relationships. This sort of sacrifice will only hurt you in the long-run; there’s no point being successful if it makes you lonely and isolated. Intellectual Wellness Just like muscles get weak if you don’t use them, your mind can atrophy if you don’t keep it engaged. If you find yourself bored all the time, then it can be a sign that your intellectual wellness is low. To keep your intellectual wellness high, we recommend these things: Do Stimulating Mental Activities Keeping your mind engaged is just a matter of finding the right activities. You can do classic activities like logic puzzles, crosswords or sudoku. But you can also have conversations with people who challenge you intellectually or read books that offer you new ideas. Always Keep Learning Lifelong learning is essential for intellectual wellness. It doesn’t matter so much what you learn — just pick something that interests you. It could be reading about a subject that you want to learn more about or teaching yourself a new skill. Learning something new engages your brain like nothing else, forming new connections as your knowledge grows. Environmental Wellness Environmental wellness means maintaining a harmonious relationship with the earth. It’s an acknowledgement that humans do not exist separately from nature; we are part of a larger ecological system. Environmental wellness ties into spiritual, emotional, and physical wellness, for you can’t have the others at a truly high level if you’re isolated from the environment. To maintain environmental wellness, here’s what we suggest: Get Outside Being out in nature can help you feel more at peace, not to mention boosting your mood. Sunshine and fresh air do wonders for your mental health, and being outside is also a chance to bring some physical activity into your day. You don’t even have to get outside of the city to experience the benefits of the outdoors. Just walking around in a local park will work as well. Live Sustainably Sustainable living means being aware of how the things you do and the products you consume affect the earth. It can start with activities such as recycling and extend into reducing your overall resource consumption. For example, you might bring your own reusable bags to the store or replace your paper towels with cloth ones. Occupational Wellness Finally, we have occupational wellness. This final category of the dimensions of wellness relates to how your career fits into your overall life. When you have a high degree of occupational wellness, your work is not disconnected from your life, and it doesn’t conflict with your values. Rather, it fits into your larger vision for your life, supporting the things you want to achieve. Of course, the need to make money can sometimes be more urgent that finding the most fulfilling career possible. Therefore, we suggest viewing occupational wellness as something to aspire towards, especially when starting your own business. That being said, it’s still possible to maintain occupational wellness even in a job that isn’t the most exciting or fulfilling. Here are some strategies we suggest: Have a Plan for Your Career It’s impossible to plan your career from start to finish, as you never know where life will take you. But having a general vision for your career can help you make sure that you don’t get stuck in an unfulfilling job that you’re only doing for the money. Furthermore, having a larger vision will help you maintain motivation if you are in a job you dislike, knowing that you’re working toward a future occupation that’s more in line with what you want to do. Think Beyond Money You deserve to be paid well for the excellent work you do, but you should also make sure that you don’t let money blind you to the other aspects of your job that matter more for life satisfaction. If you’re doing a job that doesn’t align with your values, is boring, or is excessively stressful, it will start to wear on you after a while. It’s possible to put up with a bad job in exchange for a large paycheck, but we don’t recommend it. Over the long term, it will harm other dimensions of wellness, particularly your emotional, spiritual and physical wellness. Be Well in All Dimensions of Wellness We hope you now understand that dimensions of wellness are about so much more than just diet and exercise. It extends into a variety of areas of your life, all of which are interdependent. To live a happy life and fulfill your potential, all the dimensions of wellness must be in balance. Keeping them in balance is a lifelong journey, but you should now have the information you need to take the first steps.