Start To Prioritise Yourself To Maximise Your Health

This is a big topic…how to prioritise yourself.

So many clients I work with have forgotten how to do this and why this is important, and as a result, their health is suffering.They have gotten to a place where their kids, or their jobs have become the priority, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However it’s got to such an extreme level that there isn’t enough time or energy left to think about themselves.

This starts to show up as feeling knackered all the time, not eating well, sleeping badly, carrying extra weight, health markers deteriorating, and not moving or exercising very much (all whilst supporting everyone else and their needs, rushing around and making sure they are ok!).

Although this comes from a place of wanting to do their best for their kids, their boss, partner or families, in nearly all cases it ends up having a negative impact.

Can you really be a great partner if you’re tired and stressed all the time and your confidence is low due to not feeling your best? Can you be a good parent if your health starts to deteriorate or you don’t have the energy to run around? Are you setting the best example to your family if you aren’t living a healthy lifestyle? And are you really bringing your A game to work if you’re not looking after your physical and mental health?

Engaging in self care, including looking after your health by eating well and exercising, is actually fundamental to creating a good life for yourself AND the people and things that matter to you the most. You need to learn to prioritise yourself in order to perform at your best.

This is the hard part, starting to build in the habits of self prioritisation, but here are 4 ways you can start to think about doing so.

1. Start looking at ways you can make time for YOU. Where could you ask for help from others? Where could you add in some systems to speed things up? Meal prepping for example or using a meal prep service. What is in your schedule that could be sacrificed in order to make time for your health?
2. If you find this particularly hard, start with 5 mins planned time each day where you do NOTHING but focus on yourself. This is your time to think, breath and just be, without being interrupted by your partner, kids or work. This is the beginnings of starting to look after yourself . Over time this can build to 10 mins, then 20 and before you know it you will an hour a day to yourself which opens up the opportunity for walking or an exercise session. But start small and slowly build up.

3.Lean to say NO and put a stop to the automatic ‘yes’ response! The clients I work with have often found themselves at the bottom of the list of priorities with poor health and fitness levels. They have other people around them stacked above them and they struggle to say no. The skill they need to work on is placing more value on their time and energy but this can be hard to do if you brain is telling you not to let anyone down, or not be selfish….sound familiar?! The trick here is to flip things around so that you realise you are actually going to perform better for yourself and those around you by saying no a little more! And ask yourself why is letting yourself down better than other people? And also what is it that saying no actually gives you?

e.g. No i’m not free this evening as I planned to go to the gym which means Ill be working towards my weight loss, be in a better mood around my family and working on boosting my long term health.

4.Start to think about the people and things that boost your energy and the things that drain you. Are there people who are always taking from you with little given back in return? Are there people who leave you feeling happy and energised? Are there things you do that make you feel happy and alive and those that leave you feeling low in confidence and drained? You have a limited energy supply and when you don’t prioritise yourself you can end up giving it all away! So this is a great way to start to think about what and who you give your time to so that YOU start to feel better.

Here are some examples of someone who does self prioritisation well;

They can go to a networking event or party and choose to leave at the time they need to in order to get a good nights sleep.

They doesn’t feel pressured to drink alcohol at an event or dinner party if its against their current health goals.

They can say no to social events if they are running low on energy, or have had a challenging week and replace it with a workout to boost their mood or meal prepping to make the following week easier.

Someone who doesn’t do this so well however can look like;

Saying yes to a drink incase they offend the host despite wanting to go alcohol free.

Saying yes to going out after work even though they are exhausted and need an early night.

Saying yes to meeting a friend for pizza instead of doing the workout they wanted to do and eating their prepped food afterwards!

You get the idea! And hopefully you can see how it will help or hinder you health and fitness goals.

Hopefully this has given some inspiration to those of you not currently prioritising themselves and a boost or reminder to those of you how have started to do so. It’s a skill and mindset that will make achieveing your health and fitness a lot easier but also allow you to perform better in your role at work as a partner and within your family.

Have a great week

Lizzie

The One Percent Club