I’m going to get directly to the punchline:
Your most vital business asset is you. I bet you’ve heard this before.
And yet, as business owners, you’re the first person you neglect.
You tell yourself you can push through. Eat rocks for breakfast. Work a little longer. Hustle a little harder. Sacrifice sleep, family time, exercise, or whatever else needs to be sacrificed to keep the business moving.
After all, isn’t that what business owners are supposed to do?
Maybe that’s the myth you bought into. And when you did, you sacrificed a part of yourself, knowingly or unknowingly. The problem is, that way of operating isn’t sustainable.
And I don’t just mean for you.
When you fail to treat yourself like your most important asset, the turbulence eventually spreads into every part of your life: your business, your personal relationships, your mental health, and your sense of who you are.
Don’t believe me?
Ask 35-year-old Mike.
Most of you have probably heard some version of my story.
I had it all. Then I lost it all. And eventually, I rebuilt.
But the part of that story I think deserves more attention is the rebuild.
Because I didn’t rebuild by going back to the way I used to do things. Well, actually, at first, I didn’t go back to anything.
I retreated.
I wasn’t the healthiest version of myself. I was grieving the life I had built and watching it take a tremendous hit. I was grieving my identity…or, more accurately, what my identity had become.
I grieved all the things I thought I had done right.
I grieved the good intentions behind becoming an entrepreneur. The desire to build something meaningful. To do good in the world. To create something that mattered.
And slowly, through therapy and a lot of love and support from the people around me, I started to rebuild.
But this time, I rebuilt differently. I became acutely aware of the bigger picture.
And that bigger picture started with me taking care of myself before my business.
Good Intentions Aren’t Enough
All the good intentions in the world don’t matter if you aren’t taking care of the person those intentions are coming from.
You.
We’re reminded of this every time we get on an airplane.
During the safety demonstration, they tell you that if the cabin loses pressure, you should put your own oxygen mask on before helping someone else.
That isn’t selfish. It’s necessary. And business ownership is no different.
When you’re grounded in your physical and mental health, and taking care of whatever your health requires, you create room for everything else in your life to become more aligned.
Your business gets better. Your relationships get better. Your decision-making gets better. Your ability to handle adversity gets better. And perhaps most importantly, you get better at actually experiencing the life you’re working so hard to build. Because when you constantly grind, hustle, and sacrifice the time you need for yourself and the people you love, all that energy may not produce the ROI you thought it would.
I know mine didn’t.
Success Is a Package Deal
For a long time, I thought success was about what I could build. Actually – what I could measure…
How much I could accomplish.
How many people I could help.
How much I could grow.
Now I see things differently. It’s not just the business.
It’s the person running the business. It’s your health. Your relationships. Your family. Your peace of mind. Your ability to be present. Your ability to wake up and actually enjoy the life you worked so hard to create.
Your business is an asset.
But you are the asset that makes everything else possible.
So protect it.
Take care of yourself before you have no choice but to.
The goal shouldn’t be to build a successful business at the expense of your life.
The goal should be to build a successful life, and let your business be part of it.
Next week I’ll support you with an outline of how to create and protect your boundaries, but for this week, remember to treat yourself like the priority you are.
You’ve got this.
-Mike
