Working for Wellness: Getting Organized With Self-Care

With so many work and family obligations, many of us don’t have the time, energy, or resources to take our own sense of wellness seriously. Today, Healthy Life Mechanism shares some tips and resources to help you get organized and live your best life.

Setting Goals

Before you set out to improve your health and well-being, it’s important to identify the areas of your life where you feel deficient, or you want to see improvement. Here are a few common examples to get you started.

• Sleep: It’s amazing just how significant of an effect a good night’s sleep can have on our mood, energy levels, and productivity. A typical sleep goal might look like ‘getting 30 minutes more sleep per night,’ or simply ‘reduce caffeine intake in the hours before bedtime.’

• Career and Education: If you’re feeling stagnant in your career, it’s worth setting some goals to transition towards a more meaningful state of employment. For instance, if you’re interested in the field of education, this is a good direction to start because by pursuing a degree in education, you’ll learn about instructional practice and learner development, along with specialisms in particular subjects. This goal is made possible by remote learning, meaning online degrees can easily be structured around your day-to-day routine.

• Mental Health: Some areas of life are difficult to quantify. If you want to set a goal for your mental health, try to think about actions you can take that you know work to improve it. These could include ‘go for a jog twice a week’ or ‘attend a counseling session.’

• Cleaning: While we don’t always look forward to cleaning, there’s no denying the feeling of satisfaction and calmness that comes with a clean home. To avoid feeling overwhelmed with the actual cleaning process, try tackling one small chore at a time. Have some music playing in the background for some added motivation. And if you’re concerned about chemical additives, look for natural but effective cleaning alternatives that will keep your family safe and healthy.

Planning for Success

Setting goals is one thing, seeing these through is another. To help, it’s worth creating a plan that will keep you on path and your daily routine structured.

• Timetables: By creating a timetable for your week, you’ll be able to see exactly where and how you’re spending your time and if it’s possible to squeeze wellness activities into the free slots. Allocating time in advance will also increase the chance you’ll actually follow through with your plans.

• Logistics: Some of your goals may involve public facilities, purchases, or arranging with individuals in advance. Use a moment in the week to call up and consolidate these plans. This is another great strategy to ensure that you stay on task – especially if you’ve spent money or someone else is expecting you to show up.

Sustaining Your Progress

Setting goals and creating a plan is the easy part. Sustaining progress? Less so. If you want to see improvements in your life, you’ll need to adopt a new mindset that facilitates consistent healthy growth.

• Teammates: Having others who are on the same (or a similar) journey to you is a huge boost when it comes to meeting your goals. Speak to friends or even look up online forums where you might find kindred spirits who can encourage you and help you to stay motivated.

• Tracking: Tracking your progress is key to motivation. By looking at the hard figures, you’ll know just how far you’ve come and whether you need to double your efforts. See if there are apps or other technology that can be used to record progress.

• Forgiveness: Remember, whilst we work for wellness, wellness is not work. If you stumble or trip, it’s important not to beat yourself up – the road to success is never straightforward, and with a forgiving mindset, you’re more likely to go the distance.

Self-care is a critical facet of life. You need to look after your mental health and your body if you want to see improvement. You can start the process simply by getting organized and creating an airtight plan – with this infrastructure in place, who knows what you might achieve going forward.