What is self-care anyway? A lot of people talk about self-care and claim they are doing more of it, but what does it really mean in the first place, and what are three keys to doing it right? Keep reading or watch the following video for more...

Key #1. Change Your Inner Voice

It starts with how you talk to yourself inside your mind. We've learned LAST WEEK that we have between 50,000 and 80,000 thoughts per day, and that 70% of these thoughts are negative. What are you doing in order to catch yourself talking to yourself in a negative way? Pay attention to your internal dialogue. What are you telling yourself? What are the things that you repeat to yourself the most, and how can you transform that?

Try using the two-step technique that I teach a lot. You may know about it already (if not, check it out HERE). "I used to think that I was lazy. Now I'm willing to learn how to change that." "I used to think that I was not good enough. Now I'm willing to learn how to change that." What are the things you're telling yourself?

Try immediately catching yourself having these negative thoughts and turn them around.

Key #2. Actually Take Time for Yourself

Do you spend your time taking care of everybody else? Do you actually take time for yourself? Now, there are a few things that I want to ask you about this.

One, do you take time for yourself or do you wait until everybody else and the whole world has been taken care of before you are on the list? Is there anything that you do that is just for yourself? Something that is not useful to anyone else, that doesn't serve anybody else but you. What are you doing to please yourself and treat yourself?

The second question I want to ask about this is: When you do treat yourself, is it with something that sabotages you? If so, that is not self-care, because in the end, it's not healthy for you. Is the way you treat yourself really a way to negatively impact your health or impact yourself? Is it by staying up really late at night watching YouTube videos, or is it going for a bike ride or spending time outdoors or reading a book? Staying up really late is not actually self-care, because we all know that a lack of sleep is not so good for us.

The third question I have about that is when you self-care, do you feel guilty? Hmm... Why do we always feel guilty for taking time for ourselves, for doing something that only us will enjoy? Why does it always have to be for everybody else? Food for thought...

Key #3. Forgive Yourself

When you make a mistake, do you forgive yourself? How hard are you on yourself? Think about a mistake you made. Recently, I made a big one. I was setting up an email to be sent to a corporation who hired me as a speaker. I usually send a reminder a month later that says: "Hey, it's been a month since we last spoke. How are you doing with your goals and your objectives?" I was planning to send this a month after the date of my conference, but somehow, I sent it right away... It's only been a week since I spoke there! Now, everybody has received this email from me saying it's been a month, but it's only been a week.

I felt so bad, but how did I get over it? How do you get over it when you make a mistake? You have to forgive yourself. You have to say: "Hey, I'm human. What am I learning from this?" I took my learnings and I went: "Okay, well it is done. Next time, I know what to do. Next time, I have grown from this experience and I will fix it." There's always a way to fix it.

These were the main three keys. And why is self-care so important anyway? It's because a lot of people believe that their family, their coworkers, their spouse, their children, their clients and their boss are more important than them, and even though it's very noble to believe so, if you are not at your very best, if you don't invest in yourself and in your confidence, you cannot be at your best for your coworkers, for your boss, for your clients, for your children or for your spouse.

When you are at your very best and you're totally rocking it, everyone else around you will be positively impacted. A lot of us want to help others, and it starts with self-caring. Are you doing it?

A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP IS A GREAT FORM OF SELF-CARE.

We all know that lack of sleep is not good for us, but unfortunately, a lot of people have problems falling asleep, or problems staying asleep. The THINK Yourself® ASLEEP Online Course may be just what you need! 

Discover the five stages of a sleep cycle, learn four techniques to sleep better, and so much more!

Check out some of my previous blog posts...