Okay friends, today we are talking about healthy habits for entrepreneurs to be successful. There are so many things that you can do to bump up your entrepreneurial knowledge. Often times I talk to people about learning how to budget and work your finances. I can go on and on about building your brand and perfecting your elevator pitch. But there are some critical habits for entrepreneurs that you need to have in place for yourself in order to create a foundation that you can build a business on top of. Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you the B-MES. (bee mees)
I know you haven’t heard of the B-MES because I literally just made up this acronym as I was thinking about the things that get me in the zone everyday. But hopefully this little fun acronym will help you set some routines, and put some space in your life where you can build a foundation. Remember, everything starts with you. If you’re not good and you’re not working, then nothing else can work either. The B-MES is a way to create healthy habits for entrepreneurs – to really focus on how you’re being intentional about your own well-being, and self-care as an ongoing project that creates everything else that you want in your life.
So what are the B-MES?
B – Be still.
Let’s start with the first letter B. The B in the B MES stands for “Be still”. I like to use this one as my meditation practice or just quiet in the morning. Those of you who read my early riser post about getting up at 4:30 a.m. know that getting up a little bit earlier than the rest of your family, your house, colleagues and other people that you work with can be huge. In that quiet time and space you get to be still. In my stillness in the early mornings I like to meditate.
I also loves this time to journal, get my ideas out, and just think on what I’m thinking on. This is a time for you to be self-reflective and be still. In the stillness we get to hear all kinds of things.
If the spoken word is silver then silence is golden, and if you’re moving around a whole bunch you can’t hear what the universe is telling you.
Think about building a meditation practice or quiet journaling practice at a point in your day when you won’t be distracted by others in your space.
M – Move.
With the next letter M, we’re talking about move. I know Marie, you just told us to be still why are we moving now? Because movement is a critical part of shifting energy for your day. Having an active physical life makes sure that you maintain a healthy body. Having some light cardio baked into your week, or strength training and stretching to make sure that you’re staying limber must be a consistent practice in order to reap the returns. Research has shown that being active does amazing things for stimulating your brain, and a healthy brain means you can do all the other things I’m going to tell you to do to build your business logistically. So if the first step in our B-MES process is to Be still, the second step is to Move.
I like to leverage an app called Omfit to make sure I can get in at least a 20 minute workout three to four times a week. It doesn’t have to be complicated, and you definitely don’t have to join the gym. Side note: I hate the gym – more on that in another post. But creating time and space is an easy way for you to make sure that blood is still pumping in your veins, and giving you the energy to create in other spaces.
E – Eat.
The E in the B MES stands for eat. You have to nourish your body and put healthy fuel into that machine. Eating for me is all about thinking about my menu planning and also making sure I’m actually blocking out time for real lunch breaks. It is so challenging as an entrepreneur to hold yourself accountable to stopping everything that you’re doing (deep work or not) and taking a break to nourish.
One of the first ways that I build this into my routine is by drinking water – at least 8 oz. first thing in the morning.
Which means as part of my nightly routine I pour lots of water and put it by my bedside. How are you baking in healthy nutrition, clean food and water so that your body is running at optimum in support of all of your brain cells?
S – Sleep.
And finally the S in B MES stands for Sleep. This one is critical. How much sleep are you getting on the regular? Now don’t get me wrong: even I in the midst of a launch, or a heavy campaign have been known to stay up till 1 or 2 in the morning. But that is not the regular, and should not be a regular thing that you’re doing as a business owner. Too many all nighters points to faulty systems or lack of systems as you grow. Pay attention to that. If you find the pile of work never goes down, you pulling an all nighters isn’t going to fix it. All of the work you’re doing is guaranteed to be there tomorrow. So go to sleep!
In order for me to get up at 4:30 or 5:30 to do the other B MES on my list I have to make sure that I’m in bed by 10:30 p.m. at the latest. That means after I put the kids to sleep at around 8 or 8:30 I’m already starting my bedding down routine. Sometimes if I haven’t worked out in the morning I can use this last hour in the day to get in a quick yoga practice or another 20 minutes of meditation.
What’s your Morning Routine and Ritual?
B-MES should bookend your day. Wake up caring for yourself and then go to sleep caring for yourself. Remember nothing works if you don’t.
So that’s it folks. Four steps to creating a healthy morning and bedding routine that can support any business. Be still. Move. Eat and Sleep. How are you creating your own morning routine and ritual to support the energy you want in your business and life?
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