I had to do some research on how to create a self-care plan and stick to it myself because, as a procrastinator, I’ve never been able to build habits or track them. This doesn’t come naturally to me and I’ve had to face that fact before I could find a way to solve any issues.
My Self-Care Plan is basically made up of the following:
- 30-minute jump rope session (goal is to do 1000 jumps in 30 minutes, but I’ve so far made it to 650 jumps)
- 30 minutes to dance my butt off (X-box 360 various dancing games (yes, I love games a lot)
- Prep kids’ lunches and breakfast
- Get my son ready for his ‘school day’ as a high schooler who ‘works from home’ – he studies with UCT HS – this is his first year.
- Shower, dress, meal prep, and coffee to take charge of the rest of my day!
- Navigate the frustration of load-shedding and what I sometimes feel are personal and purposefully spiteful power cuts that are designed simply to mess with me! 😤 Deep breaths… deep breaths…
- 30 minutes to plan my day (in advance) – the night before works best but I sometimes don’t get to this until the next morning 😩
- 10 – 20 minutes of meditation or simply clearing my mind and being in a quiet space
- Keeping my diet clean, satiating, and enjoyable without even thinking about venturing into the world of sugar
- Drinking at least 2 liters of water by the end of the day (and no I don’t count coffee or sparkling water or sugar-free sodas as water intake)
- Power Nap – whenever I can fit it in. It sometimes feels like 2 hours but it’s usually 20 minutes or a bit more.
- 1 Hour to complete clients’ early-morning finance tasks, i.e. allocating payments, reconciling the bank, sending new invoices or quotes, checking client emails, and everything else needing doing.
- 2 hours for some creative work (designing digital planners, digital stickers, digital artwork, digital illustrations, digital lettering, and more for my shop).
- 3 hours for deep work blocking for the business website, social media, search engine optimization, creating content, reporting, and whatever else is necessary
- Responding to emails, DMs, engagement, and doing follow-ups on sales leads, outstanding invoices, etc.
- 4 hours (or more) working on a client project/task – the time depends on the type of project or agreement.
- 30 minutes to journal (usually at the end of the day)
- Being in bed by 22h00 at the latest
Here’s an origins story (if I were a villain or superhero) …
I’ve been working as Virtual Work Manager for almost 4 years now and I’ve had to navigate through a lot of stress, worries, and strain – in fact, there were times when I felt as though I was running on high-octane stress fuel! That hasn’t been awesome and it there’s one thing I’d change about my current career, it’d only be the uncertainty of when ‘that next cheque is coming’ … It’s not only about the income though, because as a talented human being, I need to create to actually live.
The freelance business is hard and not just the work but also the mental bandwidth required to deal with those endless months when one doesn’t have some income! I know this is an unknown for people who are employed full or part-time. I mean, they can go to work and be productive or not, but there’s a sure payslip-and-money-in-the-bank promise at the end of each month. This is obviously not the case when one is in business for themselves.
If you’re also wondering why I work the way I do, believe me, you’re not the only one – in fact, you can sometimes add me to the list of those who wonder the same thing. Do I regret this choice? No – but it’s a close thing when I don’t have any income coming in, especially for months on end.
I couldn’t just wake up and exercise, eat healthy, shower, and get to work like (what I assume) normal people can do. I want to exercise, in fact, I have found out that I don’t hate all cardio – because check it: I love jumping rope! I didn’t see that coming either 😜 … I have a dangerously sweet tooth and am clearly addicted to chocolate. This is something I’ve always known, I think but didn’t take seriously until the endless weight gain. Well, it’s been serious – it continues to be serious and I’m now taking it seriously! 😳 Finally, right?
And now that we know the Why, we get to the How . . . Create a Self-Care Plan
I’m starting a 30-day Self Care Challenge and I’d like to share some tips on how you can create your own self-care plan and most importantly, remain consistent. Why a 30-day challenge, I hear you NOT asking. 😤 Well, as I said, I’m not good at consistency when it comes to committing to good habits. I am, however, awesome at committing to and tracking challenges – believe me, there’s a difference. Place a habit tracker in front of me and the task stops being mammoth size and unattainable; it becomes an adventure for 30 days!
As an entrepreneur, freelancer, business owner, virtual assistant, and everything else in between; it is so important to find some kind of balance each day. If you know anything about the amount of stress a business owner deals with each day, then you already know how few the chances are to get that magical sense of accomplishment in your day. This is why a self-care plan is important.
As you go through your self-care checklist and check items as completed, you get that feeling. As you check the “exercise session” as completed, you get that feeling. As you check “clean diet choices and hydration” on your list, you get that feeling. By the time you get to your work day and focus on work, you’re already performing on high levels of ‘inspired as hell’! 😎 The simplest way to custom-design your own self-care plan is to list the things that are important for you to achieve; break them up into daily events and keep tracking them. I mostly keep track of everything in my digital planners – it’s amazing to go paperless, you should try it!
Check out my next blog post; I’ll be sharing my favorite self-care apps! Visit the shop for more digital planners, journals, and stickers to make your challenges fun!
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